Flammie and Glory 3: Furred and Feathered
by shadowlugia249
Summary: A Flammie TF. When a nature fanatic traps a creature he's never seen before, he ends up undergoing serious changes in his life. Not only that, but the creature seems to be asking for his help to save the world... Rated for violence.


**Flammie and Glory 3: Furred and Feathered**

_By shadowlugia249_

Author's Note: After the seriousness of the last F&G story, I decided to start fresh with this series. I also chose to use some new traits when dealing with Flammies, so keep an eye out for them. Keep in mind that the last story was part of the DCTA series and therefore it was not to be taken seriously with Flammies. But now that I am starting fresh, you can tell me what you think of this new adventure. Enjoy!

Have you ever believed in legends as a kid? All those innocent hours of playing Adventurer in the hope of meeting rare and unusual creatures in your life. You probably never thought that it would ever come true, right? That was how I always felt when I was growing up. I always believed that there were strange, magical creatures in the world that were always managing to stay just out of our detection.

I grew up learning about the Loch Ness Monster, Bigfoot and the Abominable Snowman. These monsters have been around longer than dirt itself. But even so, there were the ever-evasive movie monsters such as Dracula, Frankenstein and the "immortal" Wolfman.

There was something about the Wolfman that always sparked my interest. The fact that a superhuman beast could pass on its powers and form to another just by biting someone. But even though you would only transform during the full moon, I still wished that I could get bitten by one. Call me crazy, but I don't think that life as a werewolf would be all that bad. But it still bothered me that even if it _was_ true, the time you get to spend as a werewolf is only limited to the time the full moon remains unobstructed in the sky. I just wished that there was a werebeast out there that would get better transformation time, or even better – transform between human and beast at any time you wanted. I had no idea how...

But I'm getting ahead of myself. I haven't even told you my story. This all started with a casual romp through the woods...

My name is Skyle Kelvin and I am a major werewolf fanatic. I've collected all the movies I could, researched every last book in the local library, gone next to insane trying to milk every last fact out of the Internet and I've even collected an array of _anti_-werewolf items. Point simply: silver weapons and _lots_ of them. I'm talking bullets, daggers, spears and swords to name a few.

You may be asking yourself, "How could I afford all this?" Let me answer this with five simple words: "museum job and graceful charity." Don't make me get into details. I'm not going to discuss it any further.

But even though I have all the information and stuff, it still bothered me that there was yet to be one actual case of a real lycanthrope (that's the technical term of werewolves) being captured and researched. It annoyed me to no end that there was not one shred of physical proof that werewolves are alive today.

However, that didn't stop ME from trying. For the past two years on the nights that a full moon was out, I would risk life and limb in a walk through the woods behind my house in an attempt to find a real werewolf. I would walk within howling distance of real wolves in the area to see if I could locate any unusual wolves in the running packs. I seemed to have a natural ability in me to get close to a wolf pack without being attacked. I don't know why, but they don't see me as a potential meal and let me spy on them without jumping me.

But try as I might, I could not find even one wolf that was of the were-type. They all seemed completely normal and none of them would transform when the moon went behind the clouds. It certainly seemed that I would never get to live my dream of being bitten by a werewolf...

...until I read a minute article in the newspaper about a kind of "werebeast" that had been spotted wondering around the city. It read as thus:

"Werewolves – Fact or Fiction?

According to unnamed government sources, a pair of unusual furry beasts has been spotted wandering the streets and woods of Willmar, Minnesota occasionally during the day and night. Reports are not yet confirmed, but the alleged "werewolves" have been spotted traveling together and have managed to evade capture by authorities on numerous occasions. The creatures have not yet attacked humans, but locals must take extreme care not to antagonize the creatures for fear of transmitting unknown diseases. The newspaper is offering a reward of $10,000 has been issued for detailed photographs of these unusual creatures, but remember, we are not responsible for any injuries sustained by the readers should they put themselves in harm's way. Don't say we didn't warn you."

There were no graphics or pictures attached to the article, so I was not quite sure what I was looking for. But if these creatures were as unique as the newspaper said they were, I would have no problems finding them. They were in the vicinity and were said to be roaming through the streets and woods by day _and_ night. And the possibility that they were were-creatures made me feel all the better. So against all Common Sense, I located my camera and went on a little photo safari.

I found some other people out looking for the creatures, but they were scouring the streets while I was planning on scouring the woods. There was almost nobody out here, so I pretty much had this place all to myself. I went on a nature walk, looking for these "furry creatures" and trying to get a photo of them. But before I left, I had laid a few live traps with various food sources in them around my house in an attempt to snare the creatures myself. I was unsure what they ate, so I laid out some carrots, corn, hot dogs and chunks of hamburger, trying to appease their palate.

I stayed out in the woods all day in an attempt to find these creatures, but they were as elusive as the paper had said they were. I could not find hide or hair of anything out of the ordinary, and by the end of the day, I was exhausted and decided to call it a day. They must have been experts at avoiding contact with people because I found absolutely squat to prove that they existed.

But when I returned home that night, I struck pay dirt. I was getting out of my car when I heard something rattling from a cage that I had laid nearby. Carefully inching towards the sound, I heard a faint trilling and a purring sound coming from around the corner. As far as I knew, there were no creatures that I had met that make that kind of noise, so I carefully inched to the corner and turned my head around it.

Jackpot... almost. There were definitely two small, furry creatures by one of the traps containing carrots, but they weren't exactly _in_ the trap. They were standing on the outside of the trap looking in on the food. From the light on my porch, I could see that they were both quadrupedal and stood about a foot high on their four paws. One of them was covered with creamy-yellow fur and the other was covered in shadowy-purple fur. They both had long, thick, flexible tails and something that I had never seen on a furred creature before.

On each of their backs were not two, but _four_ large wings that were covered in what appeared to be feathers. I had never known any other creatures other than birds to have feathers before, which told me that these were not your average furry beasts. They were facing away from me, so I could not see their heads properly, but what I could tell from this angle, they were looking at each other and "talking" about what was in the trap.

The creamy-yellow one inched towards the trap and stuck its head inside, apparently sniffing out its meal. The purple one, on the other hand, was watching it eagerly from a safe distance away. The creature in the trap carefully walked forward and did something I thought was really unusual. It stepped _over_ the trap panel and started to reach for the carrots in the dish. It seemed that they were smarter than normal animals, which alarmed me a little. I gasped a little in amazement and then clapped a hand to my mouth.

The one in the trap didn't appear to hear me, but the violet one's ears perked up and it turned to look at me. Thankfully, I dodged out of sight before it saw me. But I didn't escape unnoticed. I knew that the purple creature was looking in my direction and I felt that it could smell me, too. But that's not what startled me.

I suddenly felt my mind turn green. I couldn't understand it, but it felt like all my thoughts had a green hue to them. Not only that, but there was a feeling of suspicion echoing in my head that I could not explain. But as I held my breath, I felt the suspicion turn to mischief. Whatever it was that was influencing my thoughts was planning to do something bad very soon.

The green feeling soon died away and I was able to breathe a little easier. But what happened next was not witnessed by me. There was a crash, a yelp and a snap as something happened with the trap when I wasn't looking. I reacted on instinct and looked around the corner.

The yellow creature that had been about to filch the trap had somehow set it off and was trapped inside, crying in a strange, musical wail. The violet one simply looked at its comrade and let out a cry of victory. I wasn't sure, but I figured that the violet one had literally brought its friend into a trap. The yellow one in the trap cried and tried to claw its way through the metal caging, but its claws stood no chance against the reinforced steel. My mind was suddenly filled with a victorious purple and I felt somewhat pleased that the plan had worked out so efficiently.

What I did not expect was for the violet creature to turn on its heels and stare right at me. It was a good 10 feet away, but the look on its face would haunt me forever.

It had a short, curved, furry muzzle with two pointed white fangs sticking out of the tops of the sides of its maw. Its mane atop its head was untidy and was covered with thick, crimson hair. It had two long, deer-like, pointed ears, but its eyes scared me the most.

In all my life, I had never seen such evil, piercing-red eyes. I don't know how, but I knew that this creature was one of pure evil. I was surprised that it hadn't killed its partner while it had been with it.

But that was nothing compared to what happened next. The beast spread its four wings wide and launched itself at me, tackling me with surprising strength. I was on the ground in an instant and was in the fight for my life. I tried to fend off the creature's razor-sharp blue talons, but it seemed to grab hold of my arms and hold them down before it lunged forward with its muzzle and sank its fangs into the side of my neck.

I screamed and clapped a hand to my neck as the beast got up off me and was in the air within seconds. I was in pain and a feeling of burning warmth was flowing all over my body. I had no idea if that creature's bite was poisonous, but I was about to find out. I was going to die tonight and I could do nothing about it. The pain I was in soon knocked me out and I was unconscious for the night.

In the Dream World, I could see something in the distance that I wanted. It wasn't a light, but I recognized it as a friend. I knew that I wasn't dead, but I _wanted_ that presence. But no matter how fast I ran, I couldn't get close enough to catch it. It always managed to get just out of my grasp. As I tried to get closer, I felt the presence's influence start to affect me. I felt strangely warm and comfortable, but I knew that the presence would make it more... meaningful. I just wished that I could reach it.

As I got closer and closer to it, a strange yet annoying high-pitched note hit my mind. I tried to ignore it, but the closer I got, the louder it got. As I was about to reach my goal, it reached such a fever pitch that it turned into a sudden _bang!_ and I was knocked out of the Dream World rather prematurely. Damn it! I was _so_ close!

The _bang_ sound had come from the creature in the trap just around the corner. I tried to understand where I was. I was flat on my back in the middle of my porch in a small pool of my own blood. Instinctively reaching a hand up to my neck, I felt a dry crust flake away in my fingers. It was indeed blood, but I didn't understand how I had stopped bleeding without any medical attention. The trap started rattling incessantly and I realized that I had to get up.

I should have panicked from being attacked by that furry creature and being knocked out the whole night, but for some reason, a gentle wave of blue calm washed over me. I didn't understand; what's with the colors? The incessant rattling of the cage finally prompted me to get to my feet and check on the captured creature.

Walking over to the trap, I took a look at the creature staring back at me with the most adorable baby-blue eyes I had ever seen. I noticed that it had thick _golden_ hair in its mane instead of its counterpart, it had only _one_ fang on each side of its muzzle, it had _brown_ talons and _pink_ pads instead of them both being blue and it seemed scared rather than evil. I felt that this one was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Also, I saw for the first time a kind of body armor of rugged orange plates running from its throat to the tip of its tail.

Realizing that I was awake, the creature backed up into the trap as far as it could as I stood over it. It was scared and I knew that it was feeling terrible for being betrayed by its kin, but I just couldn't bring myself to call Animal Control. This could possibly be one of the last of its kind and the authorities would make sure that it would never see the wild again. I didn't know if it would like being a pet, but I was willing to give anything a try to protect it.

"Hey there, little guy... I'm not gonna hurt ya," I crooned as I squatted next to the trap. The creature whimpered and tried to push into the cage corner as far as it would go.

I started to stick a finger through the metal bars to stroke it, but I didn't want to make it feel any worse, so I improvised by opening the cage and reaching my full hand inside. The creature froze as my hand drew close to it. Careful so as to not antagonize it, I held my hand directly in front of its muzzle to that it could smell me.

It took the bait and sniffed my hand before making its decision. Finally, it determined that I wasn't a threat and started rubbing my hand with its head like a cat. I marveled at just how soft it was. The finest alpaca fur had _nothing_ on this fur, and that was saying something. I smiled and reached my hand back to scratch it behind the ears. As I did so, it let out a churring purr that told me that it was enjoying it.

Feeling confident, I pulled my hand out and tried to get the creature to follow it. It hesitated and looked at me through the bars.

"I'm not gonna hurt ya," I crooned again. "Come on out and then you can be on your way."

The creature gave out a fox-like bark and crawled out of the cage to the smell of my hand. It appeared to like to feel of its ears being scratched, so I did that, slowly moving my hand down its back. I was astonished at how powerful and smooth its wings felt. Soon, it seemed to like what I was doing, because it rolled over on its back so that I could rub its belly plates. It was almost like rubbing bumpy leather and I knew that it was liking my touch.

Finally, I withdrew and got to my feet. "Alright, little fella. It's time for you to go. Go on..." I nudged it a little with my foot, but it merely looked at me. "You can't stay here. You need to get back to the wild before anyone finds you here."

But the beast was immovable. It had dug its pads into the concrete and wasn't going anywhere. I felt confused. This was a wild animal, but it seemed it didn't _want_ to be wild. And from the frightened look it had on its face when it looked into the woods told me that it didn't want to go back after being betrayed by its own species.

Realizing that it had already bonded with me, I sighed and started walking towards the house with it prancing behind me like an obedient dog. Against my better judgment, I opened the door and it walked right in the house as if it knew what to do. I knew that it wasn't going to leave me now, so I was stuck with it until I found someone to take it off my hands.

"Alright, little guy," I said to the creature as it sat on its back legs and grinned at me. "Let's find out just what you are and then we can give you a name."

I started to head to the computer when I heard I heard something that made me stop stone still.

"Flam!"

I turned around and stared at the creature. "Did you just...?"

The creature tilted its head and let out a chirp. Nah... I was hearing things. I headed for the computer again when I heard it again.

"Flame! Mee!"

This time, I was sure I wasn't hearing things. The creature had just spoken to me!

"What did you call yourself?"

It smiled and crawled over to me before it started rubbing against my leg.

"Flame! Mee!"

""Flame... Mee..." I rolled the words around in my head as it purred next to me. "You're a "Flame-Mee"?"

"Bark! Bark!" The positive response that I got from it told me that it agreed with me.

"Okay, Mr. "Flammie", tell me more about yourself."

"Flame?" It seemed confused at what I was asking it. I felt a presence in my mind that sounded like the Flammie's voice talking to me.

It didn't say any words, but its mind spoke volumes to me. Judging from the tone it was using, It was a female. That was conclusive because I could now say that it was a "female Flammie". It also seemed to be reading MY mind, because when I would think of something, it would react to it physically or with a burst of color in my mind. It also told me that I was its "bess fend". I interpreted this as "best friend".

The Flammie's intelligence was amazing! As the two of us "talked" with each other throughout the day, it seemed to be "learning" everything about me that it could and responding like a normal human would. I'm not sure how I understood its garbled thoughts, but there seemed to be something inside me that translated these thoughts with ease.

By the end of the day, the Flammie had managed to say a rather impressive vocabulary. It demonstrated this by speaking to me in perfect pitch, tone and volume, "I like you, Skyle. You took me in and treat me nice. We'll always be friends."

I was glad that she felt that way about someone she had just met. This told me that Flammies could cooperate with humans just like we could with our own pets. By the end of the day, we had learned so much about each other that we marveled at how each other lived.

It turns out that the Flammie (or "Flamelet" as she called her young form) had a name to begin with when she had hatched less than two weeks ago.

"My name is Seryn. It means "sincere" and "serenity" in the old language. I was hatched with my brother, who was named..." She broke off, apparently disturbed by something.

"What?" I said, concerned. "Is there something wrong?" I was startled to see Seryn's eyes start to water and tear up. "Seryn? Are you alright? Did I say something to offend you?"

"No..." She whined and crawled over to cuddle up to me. I was confused, but I patted her back and stroked her fur as she cried into my chest. "I thought Mana was different. I never thought he would leave me like that. We're the last of our kind and he had had to leave me like that!"

She wailed and sobbed into my chest. Apparently, "Mana" was the violet Flammie that had left Seryn to be captured by me in that trap and had flown off. Also, Mana sounded like her brother, but hew had betrayed her to let their species die off.

"Mana didn't care about our species, Skyle. He left me to die and ran off. But you are so nice to me." She looked up at me with teary baby-blue eyes and smiled. "You've done so much for me already. I can't thank you enough."

She then reached up with a paw and stroked my face with a gentle touch. I felt somewhat calmer when she touched me. It was like an angel's breath touching your face like nothing else. It was so soft...

"Skyle... will you... be my friend?"

I thought of this as a strange question. I had never known an animal to ask a human to be its friend. But I knew that Seryn was much more than a simple animal. She was one of the last of her kind and I felt that she could do extraordinary things when she grew up. She was really darling, so I couldn't say no.

"Yes, Seryn. I will be your friend. You deserve a friend and I will do whatever it takes to take care of you."

Seryn let out a trill and wrapped her paws around my neck. I smiled as I stroked her back. She deserved a friend like me and I was glad to have her as one.

But Seryn's expression changed when she felt the side of my neck where "Mana" had bitten me. You couldn't tell by feeling it, but Seryn was unique and _she_ obviously could.

"Skyle... you've been bitten... by a Flammie..."

I gulped as she looked at me with those amazing eyes. I knew that she knew what had bitten me, but I wasn't sure how she would react.

"Yeah... is it bad? Is it poisonous?"

Seryn looked at me and then backed up off me like I was about to attack her. She inched away and then sat there, looking at me. I couldn't tell what she was thinking from the expression on her face. I thought that I had been infected by a foreign disease that Seryn thought was dangerous. I had a sudden panic attack from the look on her face and was about to go into shock...

...when against all odds, Seryn smiled and ran up to me to hug me tight!

"Oh, Skyle! It's amazing! I never thought it would happen in my lifetime!"

I was at a complete loss for words as her wings wrapped around me like a brace. "Seryn...? What's going on...?"

But Seryn simply climbed off me and crawled over to the sliding glass door that led to my patio. When she looked back at me, I could have sworn that she had _winked_ at me!

"I can't tell you – I'd spoil the surprise. You'll have to wait and find out for yourself. Now..." She pawed at the door with her talons. "...could you let me out? I need to fly for a little while."

I was too distracted by this statement to wonder what Seryn was hiding from me. "Can't it wait until morning? I'm really tired."

But Seryn gave me a look that touched my inner conscious. "I can't wait. I must have moonlight. If I don't absorb the moonlight every night, I will be emotionally, physically and spiritually drained. It is how We Flammies used to survive for so long. And my fur... well..."

I noticed that her fur was a little darker with a slight dirt-yellow shade to it. It had also lost some of its shine and luster in a short time.

"I... get it. Moonlight is your species' way of feeding themselves. No wonder you wouldn't touch the carrots in the trap last night."

Seryn nodded and continued to look at me with those adorable eyes. I finally gave in and walked over to let her out. Seryn bowed low to thank me and took to the air. I was a little alarmed that she made no attempt to hide herself once she was in the air. But at the altitude she was at, it would be rather difficult for anyone to spot her. Still, it worried me because as she flew, the moonlight that hit her caused a small trail of sparkles to trail behind her like a small shooting star.

My nerves were on end when I saw several bright flashes rip through the night. People were taking pictures of her! I thought that our secret would leak out, but I felt a swirl of confident gold and white wash through my mind. Seryn was sending me the feeling that she would not be discovered at this time of night. So I dismissed it and went inside.

It was almost 10:00 and I realized just how fast the day had flown by. Feeling beat, I turned in for the night. I left the door open for Seryn to come back in when she was ready. Until then, I went to bed and was soon another visitor in the Dream World.

In my dream, I could feel the thing I was looking for was nearby. It wasn't in front of me, but I could feel it behind me. I tried to look at it, but it was somehow able to dodge just out of my view.

"You know I don't like it when you do that," I said to the presence behind me. "You must be here for some reason other than to torment me."

I could feel the presence's expression of smugness. "I don't mean to avoid you, but we are not to meet yet." There was something familiar about this voice. It had a tone about it that I could not remember clearly.

"Have we met before? I feel that I've heard your voice somewhere in my life."

The figure seemed to shrug and put its hand on my shoulder. "Maybe. Like I said, we are destined to meet... just not yet."

The hand felt like a warm, thick glove. I had my clothes on, so I could not tell through the cloth on my shirt. But then the figure reached out with one of its digits and put a sharp nail on my cheek before running it up and down my face. For the life of me, I could not remember what I was feeling.

"You're something else, Skyle. I feel that we will be perfect for each other in the end. Just keep going in your life and it will all turn out for the better."

I felt the "claw" run through my hair and I suddenly felt warm and... how do I describe it... "thick" atop my head. It felt like I was wearing a heavy wool hat without the hat, per se. The figure took a lock of my hair with two of its digits and examined it closely.

"It's already begun. And quite a marvelous resemblance it is. When you wake up, I don't want you to panic. Everything will be made clear to you soon enough."

I shrugged and felt the presence start to walk away. "Whatever you say. I'll do my best."

"I know you will... my friend..."

I had a few seconds to figure out what it meant before my dream abruptly gave out and I was wide awake again.

I woke up with a heavy feeling on my chest and a lazy blue swirl sitting in my mind. Careful as to not move much, I slowly lifted my head and smiled at what I saw. Seryn the Flammie was curled up on my chest, fast asleep. Her furry body was making me feel a little warm, but the deep _thump..._ _tha-thump_ of her heart vibrated on my chest, soothing me a little. Her deep, sleepy breaths echoed in my chest as she dreamed whatever Flammies dreamed at night. She seemed so peaceful there.

I laid there for a while, letting the sleeping dragon lie as long as possible. Finally, the snoozing Flammie's body started to move and she slowly opened her eyes to look at me.

"Hello, Skyle. Sleep well?"

I smiled and nodded. "Very well, thank you."

She rolled off my chest and stretched out on the bed, yawning widely. I could never get over how cute she looked at any given time. But I noticed something different as well.

Seryn had been roughly two feet from head to tail the previous night. But this morning, I could have sworn that she was a good six inches longer and somewhat larger in her body. I also noticed that the area around her belly was a little paler.

"Seryn... you... you grew!"

Seryn smiled and stroked my cheek with a paw. "Yes. We Flamelets grow rather fast in our first month. Soon, I'll be full-size... and more." She didn't say what, but she rubbed her belly in a strange way.

I thought it kind of odd at what she had done, but I dismissed it as a crazy thought. It was too soon for that.

Seryn's eyes then darted to my head and they grew a little wide. "It's begun already? That was fast."

"Say what?"

She rolled onto her front and climbed off my bed to go get a drink of water.

"Seryn? What are you talking about?"

All I got from her in response was a golden wash in my mind and a feeling of pride. Wondering what she was up to, I sat up on the side of my bed and ran a hand through my hair.

Right away, I felt something strange about that. My hair was somewhat thicker, stronger and heavier than it was supposed to be. It was also a mess, but I quickly found out what was wrong with it.

Once I was in front of the mirror on my dresser, my eyes went wide. My normally straight, brown hair had thickened and turned a dark, goldenrod-yellow. It had also clumped in locks like those guys you see on Japanese animes. It was indeed a strange sight, but something other than the fact it would never comb straight again bothered me. It seemed... eerily familiar. It reminded me of... uh-oh...

"SERYN!!!"

The Flammie knew she was busted and came crawling into my room with her head down. Almost immediately, I recognized the same untidy golden hair on _her_ head. This confirmed my suspicions.

"Seryn... tell me straight. I don't want you to avoid the question this time. What's happening to me?"

Seryn was doing some serious thinking to see what she could say, but this time, it was the look in _my_ eyes that prevailed. She muttered under her breath and I sighed.

"Come on, Seryn. You can tell me. I won't get mad."

But she wasn't that sure. She took a deep breath and crawled over to me before taking my hand in her paw.

"You are becoming a Flammie."

The sheer shock and confusion that hit my mind was too great for words. I stared at Seryn with a look that caused her to whimper and look away from me.

"What...?! What are you...?! What did you say...?!"

Seryn quailed under the pressure I was applying to her paw. "I'm sorry, Skyle... but it's true. That bite on your neck was caused by a Flammie. Within a week, you will be a full-fledged Flammie. It's one of our abilities that have kept our species alive for millennia." She yelped as I squeezed her paw even harder. "Ow! Please don't hurt me! I didn't mean for this to happen! It just turned out that way! Owwie! Please let me go! I... I..."

The look I gave her could have pierced steel. She had ruined my life by biting me and saying that I was going to become a Flammie. I mean, I've always wanted to become a werebeast, but a Flammie was something I knew almost nothing about. At the moment, our friendship was null and void. I didn't care what happened to her; I just wanted to hurt her as much as possible for what she had done to me. This was her fault and she was going to pay for it dearly.

"Skyle, _please_ stop hurting me! I can help you through this; just let me go before you break my paw!"

I did not care what happened to her. In fact, I wrapped my fingers around her furry throat and started to strangle her. I could see tears forming in her eyes and she gasped for breath and choked up as she cried.

"Mana... did more... that I thought... His evil... is in you... I have to... fix this... Forgive me... Skyle."

Her mouth started to smoke and smolder and I was staring at her in disbelief for a minute before I was blasted backwards from a sudden blast of blue fire that she had just expelled from her maw. I was on the floor in an instant, but Seryn wasn't finished. Ignoring her weakened form, She ran forward and closed her maw around my throat, piercing my flesh and injecting her fangs into my jugular.

I stared at Seryn in disbelief as I bled profusely on the floor. She had just attacked me just like her brother had. I knew that Flammies were no good. They were nothing but savage beasts that were smarter than us and would do anything to kill us.

I was bleeding for a good half-minute before the blood suddenly stopped as my wounds closed up on their own. Seryn, against all odds, hadn't left my side like a savage beast would after its attack. She coughed and hacked as she tried to get her breathing under control.

"I'm... sorry, Skyle, but... it's for your own good. I couldn't stop Mana's evil from infecting you, but I can change the flow of Flammie blood into your heart. I'm sorry that it had to come to this, but if _I_ didn't do it, Mana would be in total control of you."

My voice came out strangled from the lack of oxygen to my head. "Seryn... why?"

The Flamelet got her breathing under control and put her paw on my forehead, stroking me gently. "I can't tell you how sorry I am, but there's no changing it now. Within a week, you will be a Flammie. The only thing I can do for you is ease your pain." She started rubbing my forehead and whispered gently in my ear. "Sleep, Skyle. Go to the Dream World and think no more. I will be here for you. Leave the human world behind and enter the land of dreams. I promise you that you will not suffer. Sleep... Go... to... sleep..."

Before I knew it, I was back inside the Dream World – a place where you feel no pain and the troubles of the world meant nothing to you.

In the Dream World, I could sense the presence that had visited me again. But this time, it was in front of me and I could see it rather clearly.

The figure was none other than a full-grown male Flammie, but instead of creamy-yellow fur and gentle baby-blue eyes, this one had shadowy-violet fur and piercing-red eyes. Pure evil and hatred radiated all around it.

But instead of feeling scared and vulnerable, I smiled at this Flammie and walked forward to meet it. The Flammie smiled and held out its paw to take mine.

"Come to me, Skyle. Embrace your true destiny and take your rightful place as my protégé. Spread the power of the Flammies and help me repopulate the planet. Come to me... and become something more than these pathetic human scum."

As I got closer to the Flammie, I was within inches of reaching it when the Flammie suddenly withdrew its paw, a look of pure hatred on its face.

"You pathetic excuse for a Flammie! How _dare_ you take him away from me! I claimed him first and you will _not_ prevent me from ruling this planet! You think that humans have the right to live?! I'll show you! I'll turn every last human in this pathetic city into my servants! The Flammie race will live again and you will _never_ see another human alive again!"

I was wondering who he was talking to when he lashed out with his claws and parted the skin on my chest, leaving three large bloody gashes in his wake. I looked shocked as I said to the Flammie, "Why?"

The Flammie snarled and held up its blood-covered talons. "You will not prevail, Seryn! I have marked your pathetic human "friend" and he will soon answer to _me!_ It doesn't matter that you have bitten him! In the end, _my_ power will overcome him! The power of Shadow will prevail!"

The Flammie turned on its heel and vanished from sight, leaving me bleeding from his attack. I looked down at the wound and saw that it had sealed over, leaving a trio of long, black scars. The scars then seemed to dissolve from view, leaving unbroken flesh in their place. I was unsure of what to make of this and put a hand on my chest to make sure that I was still alive.

But what I saw next was so shocking that my dream gave out before I could comprehend what I had seen.

"NOOOO!!!" I screamed, sitting bolt-upright in bed, sweating profusely and gasping for breath. The sheer shock of what I had witnessed was enough to make my fur stand on end. I thought I was going to pass out from the sudden shock of what I had seen.

But then I realized that I was awake in my own bed and that it was all a dream. I wasn't in any danger and I was alive and well in my own house. I rubbed my forehead with my arm, but the sweat dripping from it only stuck to my fur like a sodden rag. I wiped it off and looked around my room. All is as it should have been. The sun was shining through my window and the birds were chirping outside just like they always did at this time.

But wait... something wasn't right, somehow. I felt... different. I could not explain it... but I wasn't the same person I was the previous night. I felt... strangely... warm. Hold on... fur... There was something about fur that shouldn't have been there.

Now I remembered! I didn't _have_ fur! Looking down at my arms, I saw that from my shoulders down to my paws was a thick coat of creamy-yellow...

"FUR!!!"

"Skyle?!"

I looked towards the door and saw Seryn the Flammie running towards me from the hallway. If I was calm at the moment, I would have noticed that she was now the size of an adult Great Dane.

"Skyle, what is it?" she said, tending to me like a concerned parent.

"Fur... Flammie... Shadow... evil... bite..." I was hyperventilating and words were hard to get out.

Realizing that I was going to hurt myself, Seryn put her paw on my shoulder and closed her eyes. Taking a deep breath, she blew a gentle stream of blue smoke that surrounded me and had the most peculiar effect.

Almost immediately, I felt an unnatural calmness wash over me. It felt as if all the worries in the world had just been let out of my system, leaving me with a floating nothingness that was nearly indescribable. The blue smoke wafted through my nostrils and lungs, calming me down substantially and leeching their power into my tense muscles. I slowed my breathing and sighed as I lied back in my bed to get my head on straight.

"Thanks... Seryn..."

"Any time, friend. You were going to hurt yourself if you kept that up. Now..." She moved my head with her paw so I was looking straight in her eyes. "Tell me what's the matter."

She sounded like a concerned mother brooding over her child. I should have looked at her funny, but I was too worried about what was happening to me to worry about that. I held up my furry arms and – I noticed for the first time – my thick, padded, taloned paws. My fingers had shortened and reduced in number from four long, flexible fingers to four short, stubby digits. These were covered with a set of thick, leathery, pink pads that made my former human hands feel like warm, thick, heavy gloves. At the end of each digit was a long, sharp, pointed, brown talon that looked not unlike Seryn's in shape and size.

Also, my arms were not only covered in creamy-yellow fur similar to Seryn's in shade and color, but they were also much thicker and more muscular. I felt unusual, unnatural strength flowing through them that I knew did not belong to me. It was as if I had become ripped without even trying.

Seryn did not seem to be surprised but instead, she tested my new appendages with her talons and digits like a doctor checking for broken bones. She seemed to be muttering to herself in a strange trilling voice. All the while, my mind was just a deluge of color and mixed emotions. I couldn't make out what she was truly feeling or how she was interpreting this.

Finally, she looked me square in the eye again and smiled. "You are coming along well, Skyle. Your Flammie self is being awoken. Soon, you will be just like me."

I was unsure of what to make of this. "Why, Seryn? I treated you like garbage last night and yet you still take care of me like I was a Flamelet myself. I don't understand it."

Seryn sighed and stroked my cheek like a concerned mother. "After the kindness you've shown me by taking me in when Mana betrayed me, I could never turn my back on you. You have the most pure heart I have ever known. No matter what you do to me, I will never leave you. I understood your anger last night – you felt like your life had been destroyed – so I helped you repair your shattered life. Do you understand?"

I nodded and looked down at my Flammie paws. "I do, but I still don't understand why you attacked me last night."

"Oh... that. Look at me and I will explain it all."

I did so and Seryn's eyes seemed to glitter briefly. My mind was suddenly filled with memories and understandings. Just then, Seryn's actions all made sense. When Mana had bitten me, he had injected some of his Shadow into me. If it wasn't countered soon, I would have turned pure evil just like Mana was. To fix it, _Seryn_ bit me so that she could inject _her_ powers into me and I wouldn't turn out evil. I couldn't avoid becoming a Flammie – that fate was sealed after the first bite – but Seryn had given me a new hope for survival. And the fruits of her efforts were right in front of me.

"Oh..." I said, rubbing the fur on my arms absent-mindedly. "So _that's_ what happened... Thank you, Seryn."

Seryn chirped and climbed up on my bed before curling up in a ball on my lap. "It's the least I could do for you." She pressed her ear against my chest as I stroked her fur. "I can already hear your Flammie heart beating. It's only a matter of time before our species is saved."

I sighed and lied back down on my bed. It was still early, but I was exhausted. This transformation was taking a lot out of me, so I decided to get some sleep. Seryn's weight was starting to get up there, but I still appreciated her gentle body pressed against my own for comfort.

A few hours later, I was awoken by an itchy feeling in my legs and chest. I didn't have to look to confirm it. My legs and torso had been realigned to that of a Flammie's. My body was much heavier and thick with creamy-yellow fur. My feet had broadened and the number of toes I had had been reduced from five to three. At the end of each of my new digits was a new pointed brown claw about three inches in length. The bottoms of my paws were covered in a series of thick, leathery, pink pads. My legs were much more muscular than before, too.

As for my chest, I felt like I was wearing a heavy fur coat all over my body. It was much broader and thicker than before as well and I felt some things in my chest that had never been there before. It felt like I had a few more organs that had grown in while others had all but vanished. My stomach was not the same, either. It was like I _had_ no stomach except for a little pouch where water went. I thought this as odd since I could not ever eat regular food again, but I felt a series of special veins in my body that supplied all the energy I needed. I had a feeling that these special veins harvested the energy created by moonlight and supplied my energy and strength. The transformation had given me a free day's worth of energy, but I knew that I would have to get my own moonlight tonight.

For the first time, I noticed that Seryn had left. It was only mid-day, but I knew that she wasn't in the house. It was too early for the moon to be out, but Seryn was still nowhere to be found.

Getting out of bed, I stepped on my new legs and fell over from inexperience. But just like a cat, I landed on my forepaws and remained unharmed. It was then that I realized that despite not being fully transformed, I was now a quadruped. Also, I noticed that I did not have a tail or any of the four trademark Flammie wings. Finally, my head was relatively unchanged despite me having a head of thick, goldenrod-yellow Flammie hair.

Knowing that I would not be able to go out until I was fully transformed, I started crawling to my living room where I climbed up and laid on my couch. I lied there for about ten minutes before I was bothered by a splitting headache. I tried to focus, but the pain was incredible. It felt like someone had driven a wedge into my skull and was trying to lift up the top.

"AAAAHH!!! MAKE IT STOP!!! SERYN!!! SERYN, WHERE ARE YOU?!?!"

I couldn't get a response from Seryn, but my mind had just exploded with emotion and pain, rendering any mental access by Seryn impossible. I screamed and rolled off the couch, writhing in agony. The pain was indescribable. I thought I was going to die from the shock I was in.

As the feeling of a thousand daggers hit me in the head, I could faintly feel my face pushing outwards. My jaw line was growing out and my nose had just broken in countless places. The skin on my nose started to fuse with my upper lip, creating a short muzzle. My teeth were on fire as two of them felt like they were being yanked out by the roots. What I was unaware of was that my upper two incisors were growing down out of my elongating muzzle and becoming sharp and pointed. They were now sticking out of my maw like a crocodile's but upside-down. As they did this, my canine teeth became sharper and more lethal-looking but not as large or as noticeable my top two fangs. Soon, my face resembled that of a Flammie's as my top lip curved in front of my face, giving the look of a curved beak.

While this was all going on, my skull made some minor adjustments to match that of a Flammie's. Flammies' skulls aren't that pointed, but most of it is in our short muzzles. Weird, huh? Along with this, my ears started to shift upwards to the top of my head where they became pointed and slightly floppy like a deer's. Also, my eyeballs fluctuated to become bigger in their sockets but roughly the same shape despite them now being a baby-blue color.

As a finale, the fur on my chest started progressing upwards to cover my face in the thick, creamy-yellow fur. It covered the inside and outside of my ears as well as my new muzzle. I now more closely resembled that of a Flammie.

But my changes weren't finished yet. Just as my spine was starting to make painful, piercing grinding noises, I heard a voice with higher sharpness through my new ears.

"Skyle! Oh, Skyle, I'm so sorry! I should've been here before this happened! Skyle... can you hear me?"

It was Seryn. She had come just in the nick of time. The pain my lengthening spine was starting to cause suddenly canceled out. It was as if the pain had suddenly gone away, leaving a thick, numb feeling in its place.

"Ser... yn...?" I said, opening my eyes to see the baby-blue ones of my fellow Flammie. "What... Where am I?"

Seryn put a talon over my muzzle and said in a gentle voice, "Shh... I'm here for you. I am protecting you from the pain like I have been all along. I should have been here before this started. Can you forgive me?"

I managed a weak chuckled and closed my eyes again. "Yeah... It's alright. I'm just glad you're here. Thank you."

Seryn stroked my new furry face to comfort me and sat down next me as the next part of my transformation began. My spine had started making a grinding noise and it felt like someone was pulling on my tailbone, but Seryn's presence had cancelled out the pain, thus making it more bearable. A large, thick growth was poking at the seat of what was left of my shorts. I had a brief moment to look at those gentle, baby-blue pupils before my new tail practically erupted out of my backside, reducing my shorts to shreds. One second, I had merely a large bulge on my backside, the next, I had a three-foot-long thick, furry, flexible tail. It was really quite a marvelous sight, but the rest was yet to come.

"You might want to be on your back for this," she purred, rolling me gently onto my back and rubbing my furry belly. "For you, this might be a little unpleasant."

"Huh?"

I was spared the problem of asking what she meant when I heard a crackling sound all over me. Looking at my torso, I saw that the fur on it was getting thicker and more golden-like. It seemed to be crystallizing into something thicker. Sure enough, tough, leathery, rugged scales crystallized over and all the way down my front.

However, I could never get the feeling out of what I felt next. With a liquid-like _shlurp,_ my manhood and all organs related to it was practically sucked into itself. I squealed as this happened and shuddered at the feeling of emptiness that it left. I was still a male, but there were obviously other ways of telling because I still had all of my male traits. I was just not a "man" anymore, per se.

When it was all over, I had a line of magnificent rugged, golden, leathery scales running from under my throat to the tip of my tail. I was now more Flammie-like than ever before.

But something didn't seem... complete about my new form. It felt like I was missing... something. I just couldn't put my talon on it. I _was_ yet _wasn't_ a complete Flammie. I just wish that I knew what it was.

Seryn seemed to be reading my mind. She rolled over on top of me and whispered in my ear. "You don't have your wings yet. Your transformation is not yet complete, so they will come later. You don't have anything to worry about."

I felt a little uncomfortable with her on top of me, but I figured that since Flammies didn't reproduce like humans did, I wasn't in danger of... well... forget it.

But what we did that day was more consensual that anything else. Seryn and I teased each other by pawing at one another, rubbing each other's plates with our talons and playing Tail-o-War – a version of Tug-o-War that we used with our tails to see who would lose their grip and end up eating carpet. In a way, I guess you could call this "Flammie intimacy", but there really wasn't anything "sexual" about it. We were more "intimate" than "sexual".

(Author's Note: Readers, keep that in mind! Flammies are not as perverse as we humans are and for good reason! But how they reproduce will be revealed later. Sick-os!)

When we had had enough, the two of us looked out the window and saw that night had fallen and the moon was out in full-view. I looked at my fur and saw that it had lost some of its luster. I turned to Seryn and smiled.

"Wanna go out for a moonlit dinner?"

Seryn tilted her head and chirped. "If you want to put it THAT way... sure. But you'll have to stay on the ground to get your nutrition."

I sighed and shrugged. "Sure, whatever." We were just playing with each other and we both knew it. But then a question popped into my head that had been bothering me for some time. "Seryn... do all Flammie-Humans transform like me?"

Seryn looked blank. "What do you mean?"

I elaborated. "Are all transformations as drawn-out as mine are or are others quicker or longer?"

Seryn seemed to catch on and rolled on her back like a pet wanting their belly rubbed. "It's really kind of random. Some transform the instant they get bitten; others happen over the course of several days, but often no more than a week. As for what order they transform, that's random, too. Some grow their wings first while others get their fur right away."

This made sense. I guess I was just one of the Flammie-Humans that transformed over the course of several days. But one question still bothered me.

"I thought Flammies were immortal. How could they all die off except for you and Mana?"

Seryn rolled onto her front again but seemed disturbed by this question. She held her head and her ears drooped. "Skyle... that's not true. Flammies are _not_ immortal, but pretty close. We could live for thousands of years before our senses failed from endless use. But the only thing that will kill us is if both our brain and heart fail at the same time. Otherwise, we could regenerate either one on our own and continue living like nothing happened. It's difficult, but most Flammies have died from suffocation. It seems to have leaked out that that is one of the most effective ways to kill Flammies."

I guess that made sense. When you were being strangled, no oxygen could get to your heart or your brain. And according to Seryn, if both of them died off at the same time, you could K.O. a Flammie 1-2-3. But something still wasn't solved.

"But that doesn't explain how they all died off. They're pretty tough cookies, according to you. How could they all be gone?"

Seryn sighed and I could see that I had touched something personal. Her eyes started tearing and a sad blue washed through my head. "Skyle... I lied about that." She braced herself for me to get angry at her again, but a higher force kept my anger under control. True, I was annoyed that she had lied to me, but she must have had good reason to.

"Go on..."

Seryn sighed again and continued. "Mana and I were abandoned by our kind just days after we hatched. Mana had been born with a great Shadow and evil in his heart. Because my family feared that he could destroy them with his power when he grew up, they banished him and me from our clan, never to return until the evil was destroyed."

"But what about you? _You_ aren't evil in the slightest! Why would they banish _you?_"

Seryn sniffed and a tear fell from her eye. I gave her a few moments to herself before she answered.

"_I_ was collateral damage. Mana and I were the only two eggs laid in our clutch, and that alarmed my clan that Mana's evil had tainted me as well. They jumped to conclusions and banished me along with Mana because they feared that _I_ was corrupt as well. It's not fair! I was too young at the time to defend myself!"

(Author's Note: This is the same exact reason Seryn and Mana were banished together in "Flammie and Glory 1 and 1.5". I just never elaborated on the topic before. Sorry!)

I walked over to her and put a paw around her shoulders to comfort her. It _wasn't_ fair that she had been so swiftly judged without any way to protect herself. I felt a stab of annoyance towards her... _our_ kind. They should have made absolutely sure that Seryn was evil before banishing her.

"Hey, Seryn... It's okay now. You've got me, and when I get my wings, we'll find our kind again and prove that we are not evil."

But Seryn looked away and scoffed. "No... there's more. I can never return until Mana is destroyed and his evil is purged from this planet. But it's not fair! Mana cursed me when he trapped me in that cage. He said that I would never be able to harm him as long as he was alive. Only one who is of his blood can retaliate and defeat him." She finally looked at me with teary eyes. "This is why I chose you, Skyle. Mana had already bitten you, so part of him is already inside you. I thought that if I could teach you to fight for me, you could defeat Mana and allow me to return to my clan."

I blanched when I heard this. "Then... that dream... was..."

"Yes... it was real. And those scars..." She pointed to my chest where Mana had scratched me in my dreams. "...are proof that you are his heir."

I looked down at my chest and saw in horror that there were three long, black scars across my plates that had not been evident earlier. Now that my fur had turned to scales, It was had to hide the three evil scars that now ran over me.

"Seryn... Mana... I..." I didn't know what to say.

"But Skyle..." She looked straight in my eyes with a determination I had never seen before. "You can beat this. Mana's blood may flow in your veins, but you have the ability to choose who you are. If you put your mind to it, Mana cannot control you. I believe in you, Skyle. You can destroy Mana and free me from his clutches."

I thought this over for a while before Seryn smiled and patted me on the back. "But don't worry about it now. Mana is far from here at the moment, so you are safe. Come..." She wandered over to the patio door and slid it open. "Let's go for that "moonlit dinner"."

I could think of nothing better to do, so I accompanied her to the patio and went out for my first "moonlit dinner".

Just _standing_ in the full view of the moon filled me with a kind of power and energy that I had never felt from even the most potent energy drink. I felt pure energy flowing through my special blood vessels to the rest of my body like nothing I could explain. It was like a warped kind of photosynthesis except on an animal and the moon instead of the sun and plants. The energy that was being absorbed by my body made any energy achieved my any mere mortal supplement seem... insignificant. There was certainly nothing better than pure, unadulterated moonlight flowing through your body.

But all that paled in comparison to what Seryn was feeling. While she was up in the air, she was sending me a feeling of power and energy to me that was unlike anything _I_ was experiencing.

"When you get your wings," she had said to me before taking off. "You'll be able to experience this for yourself. Sorry..."

I _so_ wanted to get in the air, but I was still grounded from lack of feathered appendages. However, that didn't stop me from climbing to my roof to get as close to the moon as I could. Still, it was nothing like what Seryn was feeling.

I improvised by sitting back on my tail and letting the moon shine on my scales, returning some of their luster. But after 30 minutes of watching Seryn fly over the neighborhood, I couldn't take it anymore. So against all Common Sense, I dropped back on all fours and started running. I didn't care what happened to me – I just wanted to fly.

Before I knew what was happening, I was staring 50 feet down to my patio. I then realized what I was doing and braced myself for the inevitable _splat_ of a Flammie Pancake...

...that did not come. When I opened my eyes again, I was still 50 feet in the air. Huh. Either the laws of gravity were a little slow in taking effect... or I had just grown... I looked behind me to make sure... Yes! I had...

"Wings!!!"

Two pairs of different-sized feathery wings were on each side of my spine and were flapping one after the other, keeping me in the air with a rock-steadiness that didn't hide why I hadn't noticed them before. I had a few moments of pure awe before I was filled with nothing but pure joy! I was finally a full-fledged Flammie (say that five times fast)! Words could not describe the emotion I felt, so I improvised by flying after Seryn, who had just passed overhead.

The feeling of flying on your own accord was indescribable. Let me just summarize it in just one word: free! I was free – pure and simple.

Seryn was up ahead of me and appeared to be unaware of my airborne antics. So as a surprise, I flew under her until we were perfectly horizontal with each other with me on my back and Seryn looking ahead.

I smiled and chirped, "Excuse me, miss. May I have this dance?"

Seryn looked both impressed and amazed when she looked down at me. Words failed her as she nodded and took a 90 degree turn upwards with me right next to her. We looked each other in the eyes, sending a melody of color and emotions to each other mentally before I held out my right forepaw and she did likewise. We locked paws and went into an elegant dance routine in the air.

We spun in a circle, paws held tight together and our tails tied in a knot. We then released our paws and then went into a mid-air somersault with our tails tied as we gained even more altitude. Once we reached at least 30,000 feet – a height no human or regular mortal could survive – we separated and drifted a ways apart. We hovered there for a moment before the two of us flipped upside-down and went into a steep downward spiral. As we fell, we started flying in an inverted tumble like a rolling sphere. And just when we were about to hit the ground, we pulled out of our dance and flew in two separate directions. It was quite a performance...

...and to one disgruntled person hiding close by, it was a performance that disgusted him. He watched as two magnificent creatures disgraced everything he knew about Flammies. Especially the one that had started the whole ordeal. He had thought better of me after what he did the last time he saw me. But as long as I carried his abilities, he was sure that I would come to my senses and change tack.

"When I'm through with you, Skyle, you will never serve the side of Light ever again. Fate chose you to be _my_ protégé, not hers! I will make sure that you know your place and help me rebuild our world in the name of Shadow. Just you wait!"

And with a huff, he left to go rethink his strategy, leaving Seryn and me to bask in our confirmed friendship.

(Author's Note: One guess who that was.)

When Seryn and I got back to the house that night, we were spiritually full, but we were physically drained. We had had a lot of fun on that moonlit flight and were determined to spend the rest of our lives together. I couldn't believe that I was against transforming into a Flammie in the first place. Being a Flammie was awesome! I was completely free to soar through the skies at will, I was next to immortal, I was all but invincible and that was just the tip of the iceberg. Seryn had told me before we turned in for the night that she had many more things to teach me. Things like breathing elements and (since I was still part-human) returning to my human form. I was so excited to hear that that I almost couldn't fall asleep. But a wash of green and gold from Seryn calmed me down and allowed me to go to bed. Normally, Flammies could stay up a maximum of three weeks without sleeping, but I was exhausted, so I turned in for the night. There would be plenty of time tomorrow.

That night in the Dream World, I was inside my room lying next to Seryn, who was fast asleep. I was feeling restless, so I decided to go out for a personal flight. I was too excited about my new Flammie form to contain myself. I carefully slid the door open and went out for a flight of my own.

Even though I was asleep, it was amazing how detailed my dream was. It was like I was flying in a world that matched the Real World to a "T". Still, it was pleasant to have a nice dream like this every once in a while.

I soared over the city of Willmar and basked in the moonlight for pleasure instead of necessity. It still gave me a feeling like nothing I could compare to my former human life. I knew that most people were asleep and that it was too dark to get a decent photograph of me by those who were awake. The glare from the streetlights below would scramble any attempts to capture me in a photo, so I had nothing to worry about.

As I flew overhead, I suddenly heard a voice calling out to me. It was unfamiliar, but I could still hear it.

"Come to me... Skyle... Come and serve me..."

I figured that this was still a dream, so there would be no real consequences if I followed it. So I did. It sounded like a being that needed my presence... almost like a forgotten friend. I could not think of who it was, but I followed it anyway.

"Skyle... Come... and serve me... Let us take back... this planet... Come to me..."

I followed the voice to a rocky cliff not far from the city. I had been there several times as a human, so reaching it as a Flammie proved no problem at all. The voice was coming from a cave high up in the cliff face and I felt a strong need radiating from it.

As I landed neatly on the cave's edge, I folded each of my four wings at my side and stepped lightly into the cave. It was dark and it went in a ways, but I was not afraid. No mortal force could touch me in the Dream World, so I had nothing to worry about.

Walking through the cave, I heard the voice echoing around me. "Do you feel it, Skyle? We have been cast aside by our kind and abandoned. Come to me... and help me take revenge on my kind. We will repopulate this planet and take our rightful place in this planet's history. The way of the Flammie... is the only way that is worthwhile. Come to me... and serve the future ruler of this planet."

I scoffed and continued on. Sure, it was all talk, but could it _really_ destroy the human race from the Dream World? Please. Even _Mana_ couldn't do that!

"Oh... can't I?"

I all but stopped breathing. The voice had heard my thoughts and was closer to me than I realized! I tried to start backing out, but a sudden pain in my chest stopped me short. It felt like my lungs were on fire and thousands of fire ants were devouring me from the inside out. I moved forward and the pain stopped, but whenever I would retreat, it would start up again.

"You cannot escape me, Skyle," called the voice menacingly. "I own a piece of your soul, so you will do what I say."

I tried to get my conscious self to wake up, but the pain I was in was too real to suggest that I was asleep.

"You're not real! I'm back at home with Seryn! We're sleeping together and you aren't real! I'm still in the Dream World!"

A malevolent laugh echoed in my ears and told me otherwise. "You pathetic excuse for a Flammie! Do you still think that this is a dream?! Or are you so ignorant to your destiny that you believe what you want to?"

As I reached the end of the cave, I felt the stares of many eyes looking back at me. I knew that I wasn't alone here, and this was too real to suggest that I was still asleep.

"W-W-What do you want with me?!" I stammered, looking at the piercing-red eyes in the center of the darkness.

Suddenly, two violet-flame torches lit up on either side of the central figure, lighting up the whole cave. I was shocked at what I saw. All around me were no less than a dozen different-colored Flammies. Their colors ranged from green to red to blue to gold. However, at the center of all of them, seated on a stone throne was the largest and most menacing of them all. It was colored a shadowy-violet color and was staring back at me with piercing-red eyes. Although I had not seen these eyes before, I knew who they belonged to.

"Mana..."

Mana smiled and tapped his talons with relish. "I am surprised that you remember me, Skyle. I guess my bite left more of an imprint on you than I thought." He then growled and thrust a talon at me. "Bow down to your superior!"

I would not bow down to such an evil excuse for a Flammie and I made my point by crossing my arms and shaking my head. Mana didn't take kindly to this at all. The look on his face was that of pure fury.

"I said _bow,_ you piece of inferior scum!!!" He clutched his paw in a fist and the scars on my chest burned white-hot. I screamed as they burned in my heart and I felt an invisible hand push on my back, causing me to drop to all fours in a forced bow. I lied there, whimpering as the pain lifted but I couldn't move.

Mana was back in high spirits. "That's better. See, Skyle? I own your soul and I can make like rather... _unpleasant_ for you."

As he said "unpleasant", he clutched his talons together like he was squeezing something and I felt an unseen force around my throat, strangling me. I knew that one of the ways to kill a Flammie was by strangulation and Mana was applying enough pressure to just enough of my air supply for me to say, "I'm sorry... Master!"

Mana chuckled and released his grip on my throat. The Flammies around me watched intently as I fell to the ground, gasping for breath.

"That's better. See? I can listen to reason. Now, Skyle... tell me why Seryn is still with you. She should have been turned over to the human authorities and executed. Why is she still alive and living with you?"

I found the words start to spill from my mouth without any control over what I was saying. "I couldn't kill her. She was so helpless in that cage and I couldn't bring myself to harm her. I took her in as my pet and we started talking. After we had learned as much about each other as we could, I went to sleep and that's when you did this." I didn't look at Mana as I pointed to the three scars on my chest.

Mana listened intently and signaled me to continue. "After I learned that you had bitten me and I was to become a Flammie, I was angry enough to start hurting Seryn, but she fought back and bit me, too."

I had expected Mana to be upset that Seryn had countered his evil bite, but he seemed relatively unfazed. "Seryn may have bitten you as well, but once the transformation begins, the bite from a second Flammie is useless. Her efforts were for naught. Please continue."

I told him about my transformation in amazing detail and about how Seryn had brought me out on my first nighttime flight once my wings had grown in. Again, Mana didn't seem bothered by this. He was confident that _his_ influence was the more dominant one.

When I had finished, Mana said nothing for a while. He appeared to be thinking over his next move. Finally, he said, "I keep the promises I make. By the end of tonight, you will undergo your final transformation and become my protégé. Together, we will take revenge on those who banished us. Now... arise and embrace your destiny, Skyle."

I whimpered as I got to my feet. Mana had gotten up and was standing over me like some great goliath. He turned to the Flammies surrounding us and pointed to the cave exit.

"Leave us. We have business to attend to. Spread out and continue your missions."

The Flammies said nothing but instead sent a medley of color to their master as they left the cave in single file. When they had all left, Mana turned to face me. He took a deep breath and spoke clearly to me. "You have done well to come to me, Skyle. Now... embrace your destiny!"

Before I could react, Mana had breathed a blast of black mist all over me, dousing me in vile liquid and causing my senses to go numb. In the light of the two violet torches, I watched in horror as my paws appeared to be _melting!_ The fur and talons on them had become liquefied and were dissolving in front of my eyes. I tried to run, but my legs had been covered by the black gunk and I tripped and landed in a pool of myself. My nerves were non-existent and I could feel my face going slack. No matter what I tried, the liquid that had enveloped me had caught up with me and was reducing my body to a black sludge.

I finally gave up and turned back to Mana, who was standing over me with his arms crossed, smiling. "Waaaiiiii... Mawwwnnnnuhh...?!" My voice was deep and slurred as my muzzle melted away.

Mana laughed and squatted down, trailing a talon in the puddle that was my tail. "You didn't honestly _think_ that I would let you serve me like this, did you? No, I'm giving you a body that will be... better suited to my demands. Good-bye, Skyle Kelvin..."

That was the last thing I heard before my head sank into the puddle of black liquid. All of my senses and emotions had become melted into one pool of feeling. Where my forepaws were, my sense of hearing resided, and where my memory bank was, my tail was melted with it. I was nothing more than a ghost of my former self.

But I was still alive. I could "feel" my emotions and feelings being changed as well as my body being reconstructed. I felt all of my positive emotions lift from my mind and be replaced with anger, sadness, hatred and sorrow, to name a few. Also, a great power was brewing up within me. A power that no mortal had ever known was being built where my former human life had collapsed. But the power was too much for my current state and I lost consciousness for a while.

Some time later, I was reawakened by a liquid feeling all around me. I tried to figure out where I was, but all I could see was blackness. I was in a fetal position and I was being confined inside a vessel of some kind. I tried to move my arm, but a kind of liquid barrier restricted my movement.

Wait a minute... my arm? I tried to understand what had happened to me while I was out. Sure enough, my body had been rebuilt inside a kind of liquid incubation chamber.

(Author's Note: Kind of sounds like one of those sci-fi "Alien" movies, don't it?)

I tried to take tally of my body parts while shifting around inside the chamber. Let's see... head... tail... one... two... three... _four_ paws and wings... talons... pads... yep, they were all there. I was a Flammie that had been reconstructed inside this liquid prison. But exactly what had happened while I was in here eluded me.

I suddenly felt a pressure point over where my head was. Looking up, I could just barely make out a pair of eyes looking back at me. They appeared to belong to a Flammie, but who it was could not be determined.

However, I _was_ able to make out a faint, distorted voice. "Soon, Streke... You will reawaken and you will become even more powerful than the Devil himself. Just a few more hours and the Shadow in your heart will be flawless."

But I wasn't going to wait a few more hours! I wanted out _now!!!_ I started shifting in my liquid prison until I got a paw in front of me. With a thrust of my talons, I pierced a hole in the side of the chamber and began ripping open my prison.

The liquid that had surrounded me came gushing up like a small flood as I tore a massive hole in the chamber wall. Trying to squeeze out of the chamber was like trying to worm your way out of a belt at the smallest possible setting without breaking – difficult, but possible.

After a few minutes of struggling, I reduced the vile chamber to shreds and tumbled out in a soggy heap of birth fluids. On instinct, I stuck out my tongue and began licking the thin membrane of fluids off my fur. It tasted vile, but it provided me with nutrients that allowed me to survive without oxygen until I could get my muzzle clean.

The first breath of air into my lungs was like the Breath of God. I felt cool, refreshing air enter my system and I was able to open my eyes for the first time.

My surroundings were a little dark, but I did not mind. I was obviously inside a cave of some kind. Standing next to me, apparently in disbelief, was another Flammie whose eyes matched the ones I had seen just minutes earlier.

He appeared to be muttering to himself from shock. "Why now? Why couldn't it wait? In just a few hours, it would have been complete and I would be the guaranteed ruler of this world. Damn it! Damn it all!"

But even though I heard every word, I said nothing to him. He had a kind of air around him that I liked – dark, foreboding and malevolent. That pretty much summed him up in a nutshell. I decided to go along with him until I heard different.

"It's good to see you... Mana." I automatically knew his name as if I had known him from another life.

Mana looked at me and his spirits lifted slightly. "Maybe all is not lost. He could work out after all." Again, I heard every word but said nothing myself. Mana then dropped to all fours and crawled up to bow to me. "As am I, my lord. I have been waiting for you for some time."

"Lord", was it? Well, this gets better and better, doesn't it? Deciding to play along, I acted like I was in charge.

"So, what has happened while I slept?"

Mana looked up at me and smiled. "Our kind is slowly destroying this city and infecting everyone in their path. By the end of this month, the city of Willmar will be officially under our control."

I frowned at this. "By the end of the month? Are things not going so well that it has to take so long?"

Mana looked down and said in a low voice, "Well... there have been some... complications..."

I did not like his tone. "What is so "complicated" that you haven't succeeded yet?"

Mana tried not to make eye contact as he looked up at me. "My Lord Streke, it's... _her…_" Something about the venom in his voice told me that "her" was not someone that Mana liked at all. "It's my good-for-nothing sister, Seryn. She has been getting to some of our victims and reversing their effects, allowing them to become Light Flammies and serve her."

I did not like this fact. "Then why are you still here?! Go out and find her! Kill her if you must, but I want to see her out of the way!"

Mana flinched under my gaze but remained where he was. "I'm afraid that it's not that easy, my lord. Seryn has managed to stay hidden from us all this time. No matter where we look, she always eludes us."

I growled and made to strike Mana, but suddenly I stopped in mid-swipe. I had "sensed" something that felt like a Flammie that was in the area but was incapacitated at the moment. I could not explain it, but this was a feeling that I couldn't ignore.

"Seryn is still alive... and she has gone into hiding..."

"My lord...?"

"I can sense her. She is still in the city, but she is unable to come out of hiding. Something is preventing her from joining the Light Flammies that fight by her side."

"What is that?"

I closed my eyes and listened to the feeling that I was getting from Seryn. Just then, I smiled darkly.

"She's pregnant."

Mana wasn't sure of what to make of this. "Pregnant? How can she be pregnant?"

I looked at Mana with a stare that shut him up. "Your understanding of Flammie biology is somewhat lacking, Mana. Seryn is a True Flammie. Only female True Flammies get pregnant. They do not need a mate..." I added, noting the look he was giving me. "They are born with their eggs already developing inside them. While Flammie-Humans reproduce like most mammals do, they may only lay one Flamelet in their whole lives. True Flammies, though, may lay up to six eggs in their lifetime. And although each female Flammie only lays at one point in their life, _when_ they do it is all determined by Fate. Some may wait days after they reach maturity while others wait could wait years or centuries to reach their time to lay. Each Flammie is unique."

Mana appeared stunned at the information I had just told him. He was shocked that after just being reborn, I knew everything there was to know about Flammies.

"My lord... I never thought..."

I gave him a look that shut him up. "I don't care what you have to do, I want those eggs. They are the only True Flammies on this half of the world... and I want them for our side. I don't care how many Light Flammies you have to get through, find Seryn and secure those eggs!"

Mana nodded and left the cave to carry out my orders. While I waited for him to deliver Seryn's eggs, I went over to a stone throne that had been carved into the cavern wall and sat down. Now that Mana was out of the way, I could finally see what had happened to me while I was encased in that vile prison.

The first thing I noticed was that my fur was a black unlike any I had ever seen before. There was not a single different shade of any other color on my coat. It was blacker than a moon-less midnight in the Antarctic. However, my _pads_ were a shiny silver that added to the luster of my coat... somehow. My talons and chest plates were black, though. It was like I was the very image of a shadow that had been brought to life.

I also noticed something on my muzzle that I had noticed with Mana. On each side of my muzzle was a pair of pointed, white fangs sticking out of the roof of my mouth... except...

One... two... three? Only three? On the right side of my muzzle were two pointed fangs like Mana had, but on the left, there was only one. I thought this as odd since most Flammies had _two_ fangs with the exception of Mana, who had _four._ I had never known a Flammie to have _three_ fangs before. Huh.

Other than that one abnormality, I was everything a Flammie should be. I was the same size as Mana, who was slightly bigger than most Flammies. Strange...

While I was in the cave, I did some meditating. I felt a great dark power flowing through my soul as if I was the Devil Reincarnated. I knew that my powers were next to no one, Flammie or human, but I was unsure as to how to use them. There was another, equally-strong power that was conflicting with the Shadow in my heart. It was a power that seemed to come from God in a form I could not understand.

If I was to describe myself in the spiritual way, I guess I was torn between a Light Flammie and a Shadow Flammie. I was the one and only "Neutral" Flammie. I guessed that I could go either way and become a hero or go against the laws of good and become a villain.

(Author's Note: He's a Flammie version of Shadow the Hedgehog from said game. You could choose whether you were a hero or a villain in the end. Think about it.)

But who was I really? I was at a crossroads in my life that could go the way of Light or Shadow. Now that I thought about it, I could become the very first Flammie King. I could control the world and repopulate the Flammie world in my image. Yes... I liked that. In fact, I think I'll get a head start. I didn't need Mana to accomplish my goal. I made the decision to find Seryn and steal her eggs myself.

Getting up off the throne, I walked out of the cave in anticipation of tracking down the leader of the Light Flammies...

...but the sight of what laid beyond the cave made me seriously reconsider my position.

The city of Willmar was in flames in some parts and completely destroyed in other areas. Dark, violet clouds hung over the city and all that was once green, healthy and living was brown, decaying and dead. It was indeed a sad sight to see. The humans that had not been transformed into Flammies were lying in the streets dead or in pieces after being burned alive.

The instant I saw this, I did some serious reconsidering on my part. Was this what I really wanted? I had hoped to reshape the world in my image once I became Flammie King, but something about the ruins of the city seemed to touch a nerve in my Light side. It really didn't make any sense to reshape the world if it was already destroyed.

There was only one person who could explain this to me in full. Mana wasn't talking, so that just left Seryn. On a whim, I decided to track her down and question her. So that I wouldn't scare her, I would change back to my human form and proceed of foot. I had a feeling of where she was hiding out. The only difficulty would be getting past the Light Flammies that were likely guarding her hideout.

Once I reached the streets in the city below, I closed my eyes and pictured myself as a human. I felt nothing except for a shift in my powers. When I opened them again, I was the exact human I was before I became a Neutral Flammie except for that I had jet-black hair instead of dark-brown. Of course, my memories weren't what they used to be, so I had a hard time pinpointing this. Now all I had to do was follow the feeling I was getting off of Seryn.

Believe it or not, but Seryn's hideout was nothing more than the house I once lived at as a human. The house was relatively unchanged and a feeling of forgotten memories seemed to radiate from it. It was like I had left part of my life behind in this house but now I was here to reclaim them.

But the house was under strict security by a number of various-colored Flammies flying over it and standing guard at every entrance to the domicile. I had never seen so many Flammies – Light or Shadow – at one location before. If I wanted to get to Seryn, I would have to get through her guards before I even got in the door.

Sucking up my effort, I approached the Flammies positioned at the front door. Immediately, I was flooded with a suspicious purple wave in my mind as they inevitably spotted me.

"Paul!" said the green Flammie at door. "A Flammie-Human is here!" Jeez... was I _that_ obvious?

A blue Flammie in the air nearby saw me and descended in front of me, blocking me off from the house. "Are you Light or Shadow?" he said, spreading his wings in an intimidating way and crossing his paws in front of him. How long was I out? Seryn practically had her own Flammie _corps_ set up here!

I was not intimidated, though. "I answer to no one. I am here to see Seryn."

Paul's expression was negative. I never knew Flammies could look so serious before. "No one sees Seryn now. Not even us. She is indisposed at the moment."

I didn't like this guy's attitude. "Well, if that's how you want to play it, tell Seryn that Skyle Kelvin is here to see her."

I could tell that my name had an immediate effect on him. He looked suddenly nervous and a panicked white entered my mind. He looked at the green Flammie up by the door and sent her his feeling. She looked more shocked than nervous but nodded and went inside.

Paul looked back at me and tried to keep his cool. "Aryll will relay your message. Until then, you will wait here."

I figured that I would not get to see Seryn at all if I retaliated, so I stayed put. A few minutes went by in silence. I continued to stare at Paul's sea-green eyes in a silent Stare-Down. He was trying not to lock eyes with me for fear of falling victim to the power I knew he could sense within me.

Finally, after ten minutes of uncomfortable silence, Aryll the green Flammie came out of the house and nodded at Paul, who turned to me and sighed.

"You may go inside and speak with Seryn. Be warned, though – if you so much as _insult_ her, we will be all over you like flies to honey."

I ignored his threat and walked up the lawn, passing Aryll the green Flammie and entering the house.

My old house was relatively unchanged except that some of my old things were knocked over and/or broken. I didn't worry, though – they were mortal possessions and could be replaced easily. I just focused my determination into finding Seryn.

All the while, I could feel the looks of several Flammies stationed around the house looking at me through the windows and my mind. It annoyed me that they were keeping a watch on me, but then, I wasn't completely trustworthy yet. On a hunch, I decided to check downstairs. If Seryn was expecting, there was enough room for her to move around down there.

Sure enough, as I descended the stairs, I could hear heavy breathing and a pained orange radiating in my mind. And judging from the cries I was hearing, it was certainly a female Flammie. When I reached the downstairs living room, I was greeted by a sad sight.

Seryn the Flammie was lying on her side in a nest of blankets and fabric, Her fur was a filthy-yellow color, which told me that she hadn't been out in the moonlight for several days. All of her luster was gone and she appeared to be in great pain. But what was next to the nest touched the Light within me to an incredible degree.

My best senior picture was still in its frame and was within reach of Seryn's paw and appeared to be taken great care of while I was gone. This told me that despite me succumbing to Mana's transformation. she had not forgotten about me in the slightest. I could tell that the picture had never left her side the whole time she was down here.

"Seryn...?"

The Flammie whimpered as I spoke. "Who... who's there? Is it really...? Can it be?"

I knew that the Flammies surrounding the house were still watching me, but I didn't care. I left the lights off and walked over to Seryn's side and knelt next to her.

"Seryn... It's me..."

The lack of moonlight had made her a little shaky, but she looked right at me and her eyes started to water.

"Skyle...? How... how can this be? I haven't seen you in months! Where... have you been... all this time?"

Just like she had once upon a time, all I had to do was look Seryn square in the eyes and she suddenly knew everything. But instead of brooding on the past, she smiled and put her paw on my cheek.

"You don't know how happy I am to see you, Skyle. I thought... you would never come."

There wasn't any physical way to tell that she was pregnant, but I knew that she was in great pain from the eggs that were inside her.

"Even Mana couldn't keep me from my one true love and her precious Flamelets. I wouldn't miss this for all the power in the world." I smiled as I stroked her matted fur. "You look terrible."

Seryn chuckled and looked at my hair. Even in the dark, she could see the black sheen of my hair. "And you look... different. Tell me... no... SHOW me... what Mana did to you."

I sighed. I didn't want Seryn to miscarry from the shock she was likely to endure when she saw my Flammie form, but that didn't matter to her.

"Please, Skyle. Let me see what has become of you these past three months."

I sighed again and got to my feet to give some distance between me and her. "This might be a little much for you to take. Are you sure?"

Seryn nodded. "I'm ready for anything."

I nodded and closed my eyes. Within a few seconds, I was my black Flammie self again. Bracing for the worst, I opened them again and looked at her.

Seryn's first expression was that of horror, but she soon got over it and smiled. "I don't care what you look like now; you'll always be my friend."

That was a relief. But upstairs, I knew that the Flammies watching me were in a panic. They had seen me in this form for the first time and were confused as to why Seryn wasn't panicking when she saw the one and only black Flammie.

But as long as she was still safe, they could only watch in disbelief as I continued our conversation. "Has it really been three months? I didn't realize all that had happened while I slept."

Seryn stroked my black fur and sighed. "Mana and his Shadow Flammies have all but destroyed this city. There is not one human left in their real form within the city's limits. It's an all-out war out there!"

I nodded and voiced my opinion. "I feel that this can all be undone if Mana were to fall. We may not be able to return this city to its former glory, but we can seal it off as a haven for Flammie-Humans. With my power, I can remove Willmar from the world so that only those who have been told by us will be able to find it."

Seryn nodded and gave a weak chirp. "That would be a feat that could save our kind. We could continue living as if we had always been here. It would be..." She broke off.

I thought that she was thinking, but suddenly, she started breathing rapidly and heavily. "Seryn?! What's going on?!"

"It's... it's... It's time!"

She started hacking and coughing as if she was choking. I would normally have tried to save her, but instinct told me that this was normal for a birthing Flammie. Still, the best thing I could do to comfort her was hold her paw in my own.

The sounds coming from her throat were inhuman and it sounded like she was in great pain. But still, I stayed close to her as she went into labor. There was a deep gurgling and rumbling from deep in her belly and I could tell that something was going to come up one way or another.

Seryn had my paw in a vicegrip as she continued her wheezing, retching and hacking. I could hear the eggs in her belly moving up her body and soon, I could see a large lump in her throat. With a few more pushes, a sack of mucus and God-knows-what appeared in her mouth. It hung half-in and half-out for a second before she gave one more push, expelling her entire birth chamber through her mouth and it slumped to the floor in a slimy heap.

(Author's Note: For those of you who need a reference, if you've seen "Evolution", you'll be all-to-familiar with how the "alien bird" was born by being regurgitated by an alien that did not survive. The only difference in this scenario is that the "birth sack" contains a Flammie's eggs and the one that coughed it up survived.)

Seryn's breathing got under control and she felt as if a great burden had been expelled out of her. But the experience had left her physically drained and she only had enough energy left to tear the birth chamber open with a slash of her talons. She then collapsed and went into a sleep that could not be broken for a good 12 hours.

When the chamber had opened, the nest she had created absorbed most of the fluids that had spilled out. But the sight of what was inside was more beautiful than the chamber it had come in.

Three perfectly smooth, foot-long, oval-shaped eggs were lying in the remains of Seryn's birth chamber. They were each colored a shade that made all other similar colors seem dark in comparison. One was a titanium-silver, one was a polished gold better than even the most refined jewelry and the last one was such a blinding white that it seemed to glow in the limited light of the basement.

They were so beautiful and innocent-looking that I suddenly felt disgusted for even _thinking_ about stealing them. They were the only True Flammie eggs on the entire continent and they had been born of a Flammie that was purer of heart than anyone I had ever met. I just couldn't bring myself to steal them and raise them as Shadow Flammies! My soul couldn't live with the guilt of it.

As I reached out to touch the white egg, I felt a power coming from it that made the Shadow in my heart become enraged. What was I thinking?! I didn't care what happened _save them?!_ What was I thinking?!

Looking at Seryn's sleeping form with a sneer, I decided to go back on my word. She may be lifeless and helpless in her current form, but I realized that I could care less. _Mana_ was my friend and he knew what was best for me. He had given me power beyond comprehension and I was going to spare Seryn's life? Please. I didn't care what happened to the Light Flammies. The Shadow Flammies were the true rulers of this planet.

Putting my plan into action, I wandered over to Seryn and put my talon to her throat. I was going to kill her and take the eggs for myself. When she was dead, the Light Flammies would be leaderless and confused. I would take advantage of this and crush them with an iron paw.

But just as I started to apply pressure to Seryn's throat, I heard a sudden _crash!!!_ and before I knew it, several Light Flammies were in the basement to confront me.

"I _knew_ you were up to no good!" said a bold red Flammie. "You will _not_ touch Seryn as long as we are alive!"

I looked at the three Flammies that were blocking my only means of escape with anticipation. This was going to be fun. "You Light Flammies have _no_ idea who you are messing with! You are challenging the Flammie King?! I dare you to survive against me even _ten_-to-one!"

Before they could react, I had dashed forward and knocked out the red Flammie with a chop to the throat, paralyzed the yellow one with a cuff of my wing to his back and stunned the green one with a whack of my tail. Flammie bodies laid all over the basement and all they could do was look up at me in disbelief.

"I have spared you three for the moment, but you will not live long when my Shadow Flammies find your hideout!"

I sneered and reared back my head before letting out a shriek that made their hearts stand still. The sheer pitch of it echoed in their minds and they knew that they were in trouble. I had called the Shadow Flammies to their hideout and they would be arriving soon.

My task completed, I went back over to the eggs and scooped them up in my maw before swallowing them whole one by one! Don't worry. They would not be harmed. They would simply sit in my stomach until I returned to Mana and then expelled them and took them for my own.

But before I left, I turned to face Seryn. Some unknown force would not let me kill her – it was too easy to kill my greatest foe just like that. I decided to let her live so that she could try to win her eggs back before I officially killed her.

And with that, I left the basement and the house, destroying everything in my path. This house was nothing more than a shrine of memories to me. I did not care what happened to it now. All I cared about was getting back to Mana's hideout with these eggs so that I could raise them into True Shadow Flammies.

Along the way, I ran into a few more Light Flammies that had been patrolling the hideout. But they were no match for my powerful Shadow Breath – a breath of pure evil that directly attacks the soul of its target, destroying it emotionally so that they would destroy themselves physically later on. But that was not my most powerful attack by a long shot. _That_ attack I was saving for my most hated foe – Seryn.

As I flew back to the outskirts of the city, I could hear the calls of my fellow Shadow Flammies approaching. Before long, I met up with their pack leader just a few miles from Seryn's hideout.

Shadow Flammies are exactly like Light Flammies in body and abilities. The only difference is that they have been bitten by Mana, thus leeching his evil into them and corrupting their minds. Their hearts have been slammed shut so that they feel no positive emotion or joy. The lack of positive feeling enhances their strength and stamina almost tenfold. The Shadow Flammies live for only one purpose – to fight and to serve Mana and me.

The leader of the pack – a blood-red one with blue talons like Mana's – stopped in mid-air about ten yards from me and motioned for the dozen Shadow Flammies following him to stop as well. "What are your orders, my lord?"

I pointed towards where I had come from and sent a blood-red wash to his mind to match his fur color. "You will find Seryn's hideout about three miles from here. It is surrounded by Light Flammies and should be easy to spot. Do what you want to the Flammies, but leave their leader alive and well. I want to deal with _her_ myself."

The Shadow Flammie leader did not question my intentions; he only lived to fight and serve. Instead, he let out a cry to his followers and said loudly, "You have your orders!"

The Flammies returned his call and flew off after him towards the hideout. Meanwhile, I resumed my flight back to the Shadow Flammie hideout to incubate the True Flammie eggs to become True Shadow Flammies.

When I returned to the cave, I noticed that the inside of the cavern near my throne was lined with blankets, bark and mud in a makeshift nest. Nearby, I could see Mana putting the finishing touches on the nest, waiting for me. He looked glad to see me and came over to greet me.

"Welcome back, my king. Did you bring the eggs?"

I nodded and went over to the nest where I took some deep breaths before regurgitating the eggs. They come out unscathed and my ordeal was much more pleasant than Seryn's birthing. There, the eggs sat there as Mana looked at them with a pride I had never seen before.

"Aren't they beautiful, my king?" said Mana, stroking them gently with a paw. "These are the first True Flammie eggs to be laid in this generation. Once they hatch, they will form the foundation of the next generation of Shadow Flammies."

I should have questioned his intentions, but I was too preoccupied with tending to the eggs to pay any mind to it. All I cared about was making sure the eggs were nice and cozy for when they hatched.

I probably never told you how Flammies hatched did I? Believe it or not, but as soon as they are laid, Flammies are ready to hatch immediately. It's just up to Flamelet inside when it wants to hatch. Usually there are certain "requirements" that each Flamelet has before it hatches. That differs from whether they feel ready to enter the world or if their parents are ready to take the responsibilities of a clan. Sometimes in rare cases, a Flammie egg could fall into the hands of a human that they do or do not like and that determines whether or not they want to hatch. To put it bluntly, it's all up to Fate.

Now that you mention Fate, I couldn't help but think – was stealing Seryn's eggs, turning them into True Shadow Flammies and becoming Flammie King really my fate? Or did Fate have other plans for me? Once again, the Light and Shadow inside my heart began a stubborn shoving match. Was Mana really my friend and ally in the Flammie War or was my fate back with the one I had betrayed for these eggs?

"My king?" said Mana, looking at me with a puzzled look. "Is there something wrong?"

I snapped out of my trance and looked at him confusedly. "I... uh..." I took a deep breath and shook my head. "I need some time to myself. I hope you don't mind."

Mana churred and then shrugged. "Go ahead. I won't stop you."

I smiled and left the cave for a private flight to collect my thoughts. As I took to the air, I did not hear Mana mutter to himself as he tended to the eggs.

"...yet."

While I was out for my private flight, I heard the distant screams of the Light Flammies being attacked by the Shadow Flammies. I didn't know what to think of this. Part of me was pleased to hear that the Light Flammies were being punished for their actions. But another part of me was unsure whether this was a sound to take pleasure in.

Again, my true purpose was called into question. Did I do the right thing by betraying Seryn and the Light Flammies or was this going to haunt me for the rest of my life? I could not reach a conclusion and I was beating myself up mentally to understand my purpose.

"WHAT SHOULD I DO?!?!" I yelled over the screams of the Light Flammies. "WHO AM I?!?!" I was at an impasse that could not be crossed one way or another.

The moon had risen some time ago and I needed the energy, so I parked myself on the top of an old medical center and sat there, looking up at the moon and trying to get my head together. I didn't know whether to hate everything in my life or try and fix what I have damaged.

"You should really ask yourself something."

I froze. That voice had sounded like it was a Light Flammie. I went on the defense and raised myself up on my digits in anticipation of an attack.

"You can relax. I am not your enemy."

I tried to find out where that voice was coming from but was unsuccessful. It was as if it was speaking to me through some kind of void.

"Show yourself, Light Flammie!" I said, my heart starting to race from adrenaline.

"You would do well to keep that temper of yours under control. I will not speak to you until you calm down."

I was annoyed that I could not sense the Flammie's mind or his form. It was as if he was nothing but a figment of my imagination. Realizing that I would not win this bout through strength, I relaxed and called out to it.

"Very well. Show yourself... please." I was not sure why I had said that. It was as if the Light Flammie was overpowering the Shadow in my heart so that I was Neutral once again.

"See? Now was that so hard?"

Before I knew it, I could see the Flammie that had addressed me as if it had been there the whole time. In the light of the full moon, a full-grown male Flammie had appeared next to me in a place that I had seen nothing before. But that was nothing compared to what he looked like.

His fur was the clearest and purest white that I had even seen before. It was so clear, bright and flawless that he seemed almost transparent from the moonlight shining on him. I was confident that there was no Flammie on earth – True or otherwise – that could match this one in beauty and grace. Also, his pads were a silver that was even purer than my own and his hair was pure gold. Every last hair on his mane appeared to be spun out of gold thread that shamed every last ounce of pure gold at Fort Knox – and that was saying something since I had never been to Fort Knox.

The Flammie's eyes were perfectly round and the irises were a shining silver so bright that I could _see_ myself in his pupils. In all my life, human or Flammie, I had never seen a Flammie as god-like as this one.

The Flammie was sitting on his back paws on the edge of the roof, not looking at me but acknowledging me nonetheless, his tail swishing in the moonlight and leaving a ghostly trail behind it.

"You seem to be at a crossroads in your life, Skyle," he said in a voice filled with power and nobility.

My tongue was in a knot, but I finally swallowed and spilled it. "I know. I just can't get it together and decide what's best for me."

The Light Flammie continued to not look at me. He stared off in the direction of Seryn's hideout. The screaming had stopped and the air was still except for the sound of the buildings that were still ablaze.

"I cannot choose your path for you... but I can give you a tip."

I wasn't sure whether or not to believe a Light Flammie, but there was something about him that I had to trust. "Which is...?"

He _still_ didn't look at me, but the information he gave was very devastating to my purpose.

"Be careful around Mana. When Seryn is defeated, he plans to betray you and take Seryn's eggs for himself."

I could hardly believe what I was hearing. "Why would Mana betray me? He _looks up_ to me! I am his king!"

For the first time, the Light Flammie looked square in my eyes. I could sense a great power coming from them and I found that I couldn't look away even if I wanted to.

"Are you?" It wasn't a normal question of curiosity. "Mana brought you into this power. Don't you think that he would have found a way to take it away?"

My Shadow side was crumbling before my eyes. I knew that every word this Flammie spoke was the truth, but I was in serious doubt that I could take him seriously. How could Mana do this to me? He had put me in charge of the Shadow Flammies and yet he was planning to overthrow me? How could that be true?

The Flammie did not smile or give any indication that he had gotten to me. He had delivered his message and it was up to me on how to interpret it.

"I cannot change your decision, but I can give you these words of advice. When you are faced with the decision between Light and Shadow, look deep inside yourself and ask, "Is this who I really am?" Until then, I bid you a good day."

I looked away in deep thought. Was this guy for real? Or was this all part of my imagination? But when I looked back to ask him his name, he had vanished! There was no indication that he had ever been there and there were certainly no pure-white Flammies in the air nearby.

My expression fell and my ears drooped from disappointment. "He could at least have told me... his... name..."

I didn't _need_ to ask. I knew... I just _knew._ His name was...

"Sirius. Sirius White."

(Author's Note: For Harry Potter fans, I chose "Sirius White" for other reasons than just being similar to Harry's godfather, Sirius Black. I don't want to hear any complaints that I stole this!)

When I finally got my head on straight, I was suddenly filled with a dark-violet color inside my mind. It was Mana, but I knew that he was back at the cave.

"What is it, Mana?" I growled, returning to my Shadow side.

Mana sounded annoyed. "It's taking too long, my king. I can't wait for Seryn any longer! The Shadow Flammie leader brought back no proof that Seryn is dead. I must have evidence that she is dead! Bring me her body in one piece!"

I should have scolded him for talking back to me like this, but after what Sirius told me, I didn't want to give Mana any reason to strip my powers before it had to come to that. Instead, I cut off the connection and spread my wings before flying off to the remains of the Light Flammie hideout. If Seryn Mana wants, it's Seryn Mana gets. I was going to bring back her body and defeat the Light Flammies once and for all.

When I reached the collapsed remains of my old house, I was immediately flooded by a sense of extreme sorrow. I knew that someone was still alive, but I had other things to check first.

The lawn around my old house and the items inside were splattered in blue Flammie blood. It seemed that an incredible slaying had gone on here. Not only that, but the bodies of several Light Flammies were strewn in places. Their bodies had been battered, drenched, mutilated and/or frozen. The carnage was unspeakable. But what had happened upon closer inspection caused the Light within me to flare up.

Every last one of the Flight Flammies' heads was missing! They had been severed from their bodies postmortem and taken back to Mana with blue-blooded trails flowing behind them.

This was absolutely horrifying. I was quite sure that I had said to "have your way with them" and not "kill them". Even if I didn't say it, I had certainly told them to keep the Flammies and Seryn alive for future destruction... didn't I?

"I didn't... did I?" I said to myself. I had specified only not to kill Seryn. The others I had said to have their way with. Damn.

But still! This was completely uncalled for! I didn't say that I needed _proof_ that they were dead. I had only said to destroy them by whatever means. This order was not given by me, so that meant they were told by...

"Mana."

The Shadow in my heart all but vanished at the sound of his name. I may be Flammie King, but even _I_ would not have ordered such carnage. This was the actions of a creature of pure evil and malice. Even with MY power, I was not as cold-hearted as Mana was. He had destroyed my life already by biting me as a human. He had furthered my degradation by turning me into a creature of Shadow. It was only by chance that I had emerged early with Light remaining in my heart. If I had had just a few more hours in incubation, I would not have care what happened to the world and I would certainly not be having these fights with myself. It was Mana's fault. It was all Mana's fault!

As this thought entered my mind, I suddenly felt lighter both in body and soul. It felt like the eyes that had always been watching me were lifted and I was now much more confident in my life. My entire feeling of hate towards humanity and the Light Flammies was removed and I felt... safer somehow. I realized that the Light inside my heart had dominated and had purged the Shadow from my mind. I was no longer a Neutral Flammie but was instead a pure Light Flammie.

But my fur was as black as ever. I knew that this would never change – I would be forever labeled as an outcast in the Flammie world – but I _could_ change who I was and fight for the greater good in the world. Also, I had only three fangs on the sides of my maw, but this was forever labeled as one of my "unique traits". I was the Three-Fanged Flammie and I was perfectly fine with that.

Returning my attention to my surroundings, I started walking in the direction of the person sobbing and crying nearby. I knew right away who it was and made my way towards it.

"Seryn...?"

Seryn the Flammie had woken up some time ago and was standing in the remains of her nest where just 12 hours ago, she had expelled her birth chamber and revealed three beautiful, healthy True Flammie eggs. She was holding my high school picture in her paws and she was stroking it gently with a talon. Tears dripped slowly from her eyes as she cried for the one she had left behind.

"Seryn?" I said again, making my way down the remains of the stairs and stopping a few yards from her.

Seryn did not look at me but continued to caress my picture. "What happened to you, Skyle? Why did it have to come to this? We were the best pair of future mates that you had ever seen and then... you changed." I could tell that she was addressing both the picture and me at the same time. "How could you do this? After our first flight and dance in the moonlight together, you just left... I did not know where you went and I was left all by myself. I tried to find you, but the Shadow Flammies rose up against me. When I managed to save some of those poor humans that had been bitten by Mana, I thought that I was back with my own kind."

She shuddered and shook her head, still refusing to look at me. I said nothing as she continued her story.

"When I saw what Mana had done to you, I thought that I could save you. But then you took them! You took my last chance at survival and gave them to the Devil Reincarnated! You left me for dead and then sent your minions to kill what little family I had left! I don't know why they didn't kill me, too, but all I know is that you're back to finish the job!"

She crushed the picture in her paws with one good squeeze and then turned to look at me. The anger and sorrow in her eyes told volumes and I knew she was furious with me for betraying her.

"HOW COULD YOU, SKYLE?!?! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO US?!?!"

Blinded by tears, she lunged at me with her talons out. She tried to claw my chest out, but I grabbed her arms in my own paws and held her firm. She cried, wailed and called me a few names that I supposed were Flammie swear words as she tried kicking me. But I was the bigger and stronger Flammie and held her firm so that she could not reach me. I was not defending myself and my expression was neutral but I was trying to calm Seryn down without putting her in danger. She tried to wriggle out of my grasp but I managed to spin her around and hold her close to my chest as I whispered in her ear.

"It's okay, Seryn. I am here to comfort you and make amends. I can explain my actions, but you need to calm down. This is exactly what Mana wants, Seryn. He wants you to give into your anger and overlook the path to Light. Seryn... please calm down," I added as she tried to struggle out of my grip.

But her weakened state from being starved of moonlight and her state of sorrow took all the fight out of her and she soon gave up.

"I hate you, Skyle!" she managed to squeak out, tears still flowing from her baby-blue eyes. "Why did you do this to me?! I HATE YOU!!! I wish that I had never gotten into that cage!"

I had heard enough. Spinning her around, I held her by the shoulders and forced her to look at me. "That's enough, Seryn. There was once a time where _you_ would try to comfort me in my time of sorrow and panic. There was once a time when _you_ would care for _me_ and screw the consequences of my anger. Well, now it's my turn to return the favor. Look at me, Seryn." I forced her to look at me and dug my talons into her fur until she did. "I'm here for you. I do not deny my actions, but I am not proud of them, either. But I will tell you that I have left that part of my life to take care of you. You can trust me again, Seryn. I will not be like Mana and turn my back on you. I will do whatever it takes to get your eggs back and restart our lives. Look at me and tell me you believe me!"

The look in Seryn's eyes went from fear to relief in a matter of a few seconds. She finally believed what had happened to me and accepted my choice to take care of her and retrieve her eggs. She finally wailed and buried her face in my chest, weeping freely. She was filled with a great sadness and sorrow, but it was not evil. Even in times of turmoil, there are tears of sorrow that are good and innocent.

"Oh, Skyle...! What's become of us?!"

I sighed and took her up on my arms. In her weakened state, she could not fly or climb the stairs to receive the moonlight, so I carried her up into the world and flew to a remote location in the city where she could rest and replenish her energy in peace.

The following morning, Seryn awoke fully recovered, but the emotional scars of what had happened between us would always be there. She was strong enough to get to her feet and walk over to where I was standing on the edge of the roof of the building we were on.

I looked at her and smiled. "Fell better now, love?"

Seryn nodded and leaned into my side. Her right wings wrapped partway around my back and she trilled a sad but confident note.

"I'm sorry that this came between us, Skyle. I just don't understand why you left me that night and never returned."

Just like Seryn had done to me once before, all I had to do was look at her in the eyes and she understood everything. The night I had left her, I had been lured out of the house by Mana's power. He had used the Shadow in my heart at the time to draw me out of the house and ambush me before turning me into the black-furred Flammie that stood before her.

"I see... You couldn't help it. I just wish that I could have spoken to you before you left."

"Yeah, well, it can't be helped, but now we both have a reason to destroy Mana once and for all."

Seryn looked at me again and squeaked with concern on her face. "But what about the Shadow Flammies? They'll be all over us before we can even get close to him."

I did not answer this right away but looked off into the distance for a while. I was contemplating on how to do this as well. Mana would not be fooled as easily now that there was no Shadow left in my heart, so I had to find a way to lure him out of hiding so that we could confront him head-on.

"Don't worry, love. We'll deal with him somehow. As for the Shadow Flammies – once Mana's out of the way, they'll come to their senses."

Seryn sighed and put her paw around my back. This wasn't quite what she wanted to hear, but she had to trust the only one who knew as much about Shadow as her brother did – me.

We waited until the sun reached its noon pinnacle before we took to the air back towards the city. Whatever we had planned, we were going to make sure that Mana paid in blood for every last human and Flammie soul that he had taken in his reign over our city.

When we returned to Willmar, though, drawing Mana out proved to be unnecessary. Mana and a group of over 20 Shadow Flammies were lined up in mid-air formation outside the cave where he had been in hiding.

"Well, well, well..." sneered Mana as we faced off about 100 yards from each other. "Look what the cat coughed up! My lovely sister, Seryn and my _former_ king, Skyle Kelvin!"

Seryn had to hold me steady to ensure that I would not charge Mana without thinking. But Mana could sense the anger I felt towards him and tried to goad me into attacking him.

"What's the matter, Skyle? You didn't think that I would _seriously_ call you my king, did you? Heh. I answer to no one! I am Life! I am Death! I am the true Flammie King and I will lead my sister's precious Flamelets in a revolution to take back what is ours!"

It was _my_ turn to hold back _Seryn._ She was furious that Mana was using her eggs as bait to lure her into a trap.

"You may have cursed me so that I cannot touch you, Mana," she called to him as I pulled her back. "But you will not live past this day and spread your evil beyond this city!"

Mana laughed maniacally and snapped his digits to the Shadow Flammies hovering closest to him. "Now, where's the fun in that? I just think that you need a little... persuading."

Seryn's heart all but stopped when she saw what three of the Shadow Flammies were carrying in their arms. A green, a red and a brown-colored Flammie were each carrying a gold, silver or white-colored egg. Theses were unmistakably Seryn's eggs and Mana was trying his best to get her to attack him.

"HOW DARE YOU!!!" Seryn was nearly ripping my arms out of my sockets as she tried to get at her precious eggs. "HOW CAN YOU CALL YOURSELF A FLAMMIE WHEN YOU THREATEN MY EGGS LIKE THAT?!?!"

In her fury, Seryn must have forgotten that Flammie eggs cannot be broken by any normal means. They were just too hard to even crack from the height we were at. Not even my Shadow Breath could put so much as a dent in their tough shells. Only the Flamelet inside could damage the eggs when they broke out of them from the inside.

Mana chuckled as he motioned for the Shadow Flammies to take the eggs away. "What's the matter, Seryn? What kind of mother are you to ignore your own Flamelets? Come and get them if you care so much about them."

Seryn was in tears at being separated from her children once again, but _these_ tears were tears of injustice. She could do nothing to save her children from her demonic brother and it burned her up inside. I would feel the same way if it were MY children in danger, so I understood her fury.

Finally managing to restrain her, I pulled a sobbing Seryn back behind me and turned to face Mana. "How can you be so cold, Mana? These are your sister's children and your hope for the future of Flammie-kind that you are tearing away from her. I don't know if you have a soul inside that black heart of yours, but I can tell that it is just as corrupt as you are. This ends here and now!"

Mana smirked and spread his arms in a challenge. "Well, if you think you can reach me, you're welcome to try." He fluttered backwards behind the Shadow Flammie ranks and thrust his arms forward with one order: "Attack!"

Seryn was in too much distress to fight, so I told her to stay out of this while I dealt with the Shadow Flammies. The Flammies opened the fight by firing a combination of Fire and Ice Breaths straight at me. Normally, I would have fallen right then and there, but being a Light Flammie born of Shadow had taught me a few things that I bet only Mana himself knew about.

I went into a ball and projected the powers of Shadow all around me into a shield of black light. The breath attacks bounced off of the shield and were reflected back at their owners. This took a good half-dozen Shadow Flammies out of the fight immediately, leaving just 18 left fighting, not including Mana.

Speaking of Mana, the self-proclaimed "Flammie King" was in shock. "How is that possible?!" he yelled at me. "How can you be Light and yet use Shadow abilities?!"

I smirked and spread my arms in an iron cross-shaped pose. "It's called "self-control", my friend. Something I'm sure you've never learned in your entire life."

Mana growled and sent another six Flammies flying at me. I welcomed the challenge and used the Shadow within me to use another ability. I felt my body splicing itself into two extra forms. Soon, there was _three_ of me at once. But a benefit of this ability allowed me to be in three places at once. I could see, think and hear things in all three bodies and I soon split up to take the fight to the Shadow Flammies.

Mana was in utter shock as two of me locked paws and I went into a spinning Whirlwind. I then directed traffic at the Flammies, who were trying to freeze my attack with Ice Breaths. They succeeded, but I came up behind them and let fly a Shadow Breath at two of them. They immediately fell from the sky and returned to their former human forms. They were unconscious, but they would soon awaken and with no memory of what had just happened. True, they would still be Flammie-Humans, but their memories of being Shadow Flammies would be wiped clean.

I wasn't trying to _kill_ the Shadow Flammies; I was just getting them out of the way so that I could get to Mana. When this was all over, I would be able to lead them away from here and start a whole new life as a clan.

I then freed myself from the frozen tornado and went back on the attack towards the other four that Mana had sent in this wave. They tried to attack me head-on, but I was more experienced than them and managed to get under them before seizing their tails and power-slamming them into a building, which "cushioned" their fall. As for the last one, a simple column of Water Breath from one of me and it was out of the fight.

Now getting annoyed, Mana sent the remaining 12 Shadow Flammies in my direction. I couldn't multiply myself _that_ many times, so I was a little one-side here. But I was soon relieved when Seryn came out of nowhere with a blue Fire Breath, causing three of them to collide with each other before falling out of the sky.

"Thanks, love!" I "high-foured" her as she flew by me (Flammies only have four digits on their front paws) and we flew off with the other nine behind us.

At first, Mana thought that we were retreating, but Seryn and I soon spun around and joined paw in paw before flying heads-first into the fray. Channeling my powers through Seryn's body, I surrounded the two of us with a kind of barrier that grew in power as we picked up speed. When we hit the pack of Shadow Flammies at full speed, Flammie bodies went spinning off in nine different directions before they peppered the city streets in nine different impact sites.

Mana was beside himself with outrage. "You pathetic excuses for Flammies! Not even _nine_ of you at _once_ could stop them! Why do I even bother with you?!" He roared and cracked his knuckles along with his neck. "I guess if you want something done, you've got to do it yourself!"

Seryn and I separated in high spirits. I could tell that the powers of controlled Shadow flowing through Seryn's body had really gotten her adrenaline flowing.

"WHOO!!! What a rush! You've got to teach me how to do that someday, Skyle!"

I gave her a look that told her that it was a good idea, but it probably wouldn't be practical. After all, I was currently the only Light Flammie that could control Shadow as well as I could.

"Oh, well. I tried."

I smiled as I turned to look at Mana... only to find that he had vanished! Uh-oh. If I couldn't get a lock on him, then...

"SKYLE!!!"

Seryn cried out as I turned around to see Mana behind her. It was like he was holding her in mid-flight for a second before he pulled his talons out of her back and the back of her skull, completely covered in blue Flammie blood.

"NOOOOOOO!!!!!!"

The sheer pitch and volume of my cry could he heard all over the world. Even people in their sleep awoke in fright from the shock of what they had heard. I was filled with pure shock. Mana had attacked both her brain and her heart at the same time – the _only_ way to effectively kill a Flammie. I could only watch as her limp body fell from Mana's claws and hit the ground with an impressive _whomp!!!_

I was in utter shock. Mana had just killed my best and only friend since I had become a Flammie. My one true love and future mate had just been taken from me by the Devil Reincarnated.

Mana laughed hysterically as he wiped Seryn's blood on his fur. "Now that she is out of the way, all I have to do is kill you and I can restart my plans to avenge my clan. It's all over for you, Streke! You will die here and now just like my pathetic sister."

I ignored the fact that he had called me "Streke" again. That name belonged to my former Shadow self. It meant nothing to me now. I only answered to one name and one name only: "Skyle Kelvin".

Just then, my Shadow self resurfaced. It was not an evil that would haunt me but an obsession. I wanted to hurt Mana as much, if not worse than he had hurt Seryn and all those poor humans. I wanted to make him bleed like the blood that now covered his paws. I wanted to make him suffer for all the pain he had caused me and Seryn. I wanted to make him _beg!_ I wanted to hear him _cry_ for mercy as I parted his body and soul from each other. I wanted him to rot in hell for each and every one of his evil acts. I wanted God and the Devil to reject him and send him somewhere where he would suffer forevermore. I didn't care what happened to me...

"I WANT YOU TO DIE!!!"

Mana barely managed to get his Shadow Shield up before I collided headlong into him. The force of the impact sent the both of us flying a good mile away from each other. I immediately sprang up and returned to the attack. My judgment was clouded at the moment. All I cared about was destroying Mana once and for all.

But I was starting to slip. In my enraged state, I had forgotten to keep up my own defenses and ended up taking the full force of a Bolt Breath. My body seized up from the shock and Mana swung his tail around like a batter sending a baseball for a grand slam.

I recovered just moments before I hit the ground and looked up at Mana. But he had not let up in his attack. Before I knew what had hit me, I was hit with the dreaded Shadow Breath.

I felt as if my body and soul had been ripped from each other. I cannot describe the pure pain and agony I felt at the wrong end of a Shadow Breath. It felt like my body had been sent to Hell and I was burning alive. The sheer pain I was in was unlike anything I had ever delivered before. Now I know how those poor Flammies – Light _and_ Shadow – had gone through when I had hit _them_ with this attack. All I wanted for it to do was end.

Finally, it ended and I was filled with an empty feeling. It felt as if my soul had been spared and I was once more among the living.

But I had no time to react before I felt a weight against my throat, pinning me to the ground. When I looked up, I could see Mana pressing his footpaw against my throat, cutting off precious oxygen from my brain and heart. I knew that I was dying and the last thing I would see before I went was the piercing-red stare of Mana's eyes.

Mana was glaring at me with a demonic pleasure I had never seen before. He was taking pleasure in killing the only creature that had ever been a threat to him.

"How does it feel, Streke? How does it feel to be dying at the hands of one of your own? It's releasing, isn't it? My own mother was taken from me by my father because she was different."

I was in shock. Neither Seryn nor Mana had ever talked about their parents before.

"My mother went too deep into the powers of Shadow and my father killed her for it. But not before she gave birth to me, her son – the very image of the god she had once hoped to be. Now, I will avenge her death and the Shadow Flammies will rule once again. I am Life! I am Death! I am the Devil Reincarnated and I am to be the future ruler of this planet! When you get to Heaven, tell God... he's next!"

I was starting to get lightheaded from the lack of oxygen. I was dying slowly but effectively. It made me sad that I couldn't have at least said good-bye to Seryn before she died. At least I'll see her in the next life...

"No, Skyle. Your time has not yet come."

"What...?! Could it be...?!"

My vision had changed to a white expanse with the Gates of Heaven standing before me. But as I approached them, a large, white form stood blacking my path. It resembled a Flammie... but there was something about this one that sparked my interest.

"Sirius...? Please... let me pass..."

But the white Flammie stood stock-still. "No. You are not yet ready to come here. The world still needs you. Your clan needs you. Your love needs you."

"Seryn...?! She's...?!"

With a wave of his arms, Sirius sent me flying back down to Earth but with a power unlike any I had ever harnessed before. It made the power of Shadow seem like child's play in comparison.

"Go, Skyle. Destroy the Devil and take your rightful place in the world!"

Before I knew what had happened, I was looking at Mana once again, but this time, I was filled with unfathomable power. I had to do something before it consumed me.

Mana could see the power in my eyes and he looked completely nonplussed. "No... How could it be?! How could you still be alive?! And that power...! Where did you get that power?!"

With a massive effort, I wrenched Mana's foot from my throat and opened my mouth to let fly a breath attack that was second to none. The first impact of the Holy Breath was less than impressive. Mana stumbled backwards with a holy sign – a white pentagram inside a holy circle – stamped on his chest. But then the same symbol appeared all around him and had trapped Mana in its mark like a net. The Holy Circle elevated Mana into the air and held him in the same position as a crucifix.

He had a few last words to say before the Holy Circle activated. "How...?! How could you beat me?! I am Life! I am Death! I am—AAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!!"

The Holy Circle had started spinning and Mana's body was being ripped apart from the Light attacking his body. In his place, a Mana-shaped cloud of violet energy hung there before it was shredded by the Holy Circle. Within a few seconds, every last bit of Mana's evil was gone and the Holy Circle hung there for a while before it, too, dissolved into nothingness.

I could hardly believe it – Mana was defeated and Light had won!

My first emotion was that of relief, but I was soon filled with a second, more demanding emotion – panic.

"SERYN!!!"

Within a minute, I had found Seryn's body lying in a fresh crater in the city. I was first filled with a great sorrow, but as soon as I touched her, my heart leapt. She coughed slightly and slowly opened her eyes. I held her head and noticed that she had stopped bleeding. Also for the first time, I noticed a small symbol on her forehead, just barely noticeable underneath her golden bangs. The Holy Circle was glowing brightly on her forehead, signaling that she had been sent back from Heaven and was blessed with the powers of Light.

She finally opened her eyes and looked at me with a weak smile. "Hello, Skyle. Did we win?"

Tears were forming in my eyes as I hugged her close to my heart and said, rather shakily, "Yes... we've won. It's all over."

Seryn proved just how resistant to injury Flammies were. She had sustained two broken wings, a dislocated leg and a snapped neck in her fall, but against all odds, all she did was move the damaged parts in succession and after a few sick grinding and crunching noises and a few moves that only a bionic skeleton could achieve, she had completely healed herself good as new and ready to fight another day.

"Like I said before, it's _extremely_ hard to kill a Flammie."

"No kidding!" I said after I had gotten over the sick recovery method.

After Seryn had gotten over making me squirm, we flew back to Mana's cave to retrieve Seryn's eggs. Sure enough, Mana had left them completely untouched in his makeshift nest. The look on Seryn's face when she laid her paws on the smooth surfaces of those smooth eggs was past priceless. The pure joy and happiness that she displayed was beyond my comprehension. The fact that the True Flammie line was saved made her the both of us feel like we had done Good by defeating Mana and freeing them.

"Aren't they beautiful, Skyle?" said Seryn, her voice breaking. "Our beautiful children are waiting to hatch right before our eyes. Soon, our line will be saved."

"Yeah..." I said, looking at my black fur with sadness. "But what will they think when they see a black-furred Flammie like their own father?"

Seryn looked directly at me and sighed. "It doesn't matter _what_ you look like; as long as your heart is pure, black fur is just normal."

"Seryn... thanks," I said, taking her words to heart.

Seryn then swallowed her eggs like I had to keep them incubated and warm. After that, we decided to round up the 24 Flammies that had been freed when Mana had been destroyed. All of them, including the ones I had hit with my Shadow Breath were fully Flammie once more. And since most of them had virtually no memory of being Shadow Flammies, Seryn kept an eye on them while I rounded up the last of them.

All in all, there were exactly 12 male and 12 female Flammie-Humans that had survived out of the thousands of humans the city of Willmar had once housed. We were the only ones left and once we had rounded them all up, Seryn and I addressed them as if they were our family.

"I'm sorry to say that the lives you 24 have once known are gone along with your beloved city," said Seryn sadly. "We have all been labeled "outcasts" and "freaks" by society and we must depart for a better lifestyle."

"But why can't we just turn back into humans and try and put our lives back together?" said a curious red Flammie. "Technically, we're still human and we are just as capable as before, if not more so."

I answered this. "That's true, but think about it: what chance do we have if the government decides to label us as "dangerous animals"? You saw the carnage we did to this city. Could you really explain that we mean no harm to society if we are capable of this?" I motioned to the area around us.

The Flammie-Humans muttered among themselves. They realized that I had a point and that they weren't human in a way anymore. If they planned to survive in their new lifestyles, they had to trust Seryn and me and follow our ways of life to be safe from human society.

But one renegade female blue Flammie brought up this very topic. "But we saw what you did to that purple Flammie! Why don't we just fight whatever comes our way? We _are_ superior, after all!"

There was some uneasy murmuring in the ranks, but Seryn was ready for this protest. "This isn't about fighting anymore. This is about man's inhumanity to beast. I don't know if you've noticed, but just one look at us in our Flammie forms will cause an uproar like you have never known. All it takes is one lucky glance and our very lives will be in danger. True, we cannot die as easily as most creatures..." She looked at me, which cued me to pick up the topic.

"But none of you are as experienced as we are. No offense, but the fight you put up against just the two of us was pitiful. Now think of what the human military and their weapons could do with their power and numbers. If 24 of you couldn't beat the two of us, what chance would you have against hundreds or thousands or hundreds of thousands of humans with guns and technology like they have been developing lately?"

This finally got through to the Flammies and they all agreed with each other that it was our way or the highway.

"Besides..." added Seryn. "Flammies are not meant to fight with each other. My former clan's way was the way of peace. It was Mana that turned this into a war."

"But if what you say is true..." said a young green male Flammie. "...how can we live in peace if the government knows we exist?"

Seryn smiled and looked at me. I had this all planned out in advance and just needed the go-ahead from Seryn. "Leave that to me. I'll hide us from the world so well that not even the government will find us. Now..." I spread my wings in anticipation to take off. "Anyone who wants to start their lives over and be free can come with me."

I was in the air in seconds. Seryn watched me fly off before she added, "Any questions?"

The Flammie-Humans shook their heads and were in the air after me within a minute. We were leaving our former human lives in the ruins of Willmar behind us and heading out into the world to being life anew. Under mine and Seryn's guidance, we would give our kind a new hope for the future. I can almost look back on the day my life changed forever and I met a creature that would forever take her place in my heart. Life was good...

...but I'm not _quite_ done yet.

Seryn and I led the Flammies to a deserted tropical island somewhere in the Caribbean. I don't know how we found it, but it had a kind of positive feeling about it that seemed perfect for us to restart our lives. It had a dense forest and the perfect amount of airspace where we could fly without being seen and bask in the tropical moonlight for ages to come.

Speaking of not being seen, once we had settled down on the uncharted island, I took to the air to make sure it stayed uncharted. Soaking up the rays of the moon in every last nook and cranny of my furry and feathery body, I fired my second Holy Breath straight at a star in the constellation Draco. It seemed only necessary that draconic creatures such as the Flammie race deserved a spot in the heavens such as Draco. The power of my Holy Breath created a brand new star in the heavens directly over our island, but what it actually was was a second Holy Circle that was burned into the heavens high above us. It only _looked_ like a star since it was so far away.

The Holy Circle shined a light down on our island that would conceal it from prying eyes for all time except for the very day that the Holy Circle was created. Some time down the road, distant travelers would come to our island on this night and meet the legendary "feathered beasts" for themselves.

As for the rest of the year, the only way anyone would ever find our island would be if they were led here by one of us who already know where it is. (Author's Note: Sounds like the Isle de Muerta from "Pirates of the Caribbean", don't it? That's where I got the idea.) So we had no fear of being discovered by unwanted persons.

But every so often, Seryn and I along with one or two Flammie-Humans would sneak out of hiding and disguise ourselves among the humans. We would then seek out certain humans and reveal ourselves to them before we brought them back to our island. After they have seen our carefree lifestyle, most of them would be convinced and allow us to bite them like Seryn and Mana had done to the rest of us and let them join our peaceful society.

But every once in a while, we would get someone who did not want to become a Flammie. We would not force them to become a Flammie if they didn't want to, so we would escort him or her back to the mainland where they would become a "conspiracy nut" and go on about how "feathered beasts are taking over the world". We did not worry though. We would remove all traces of the location of our island from their memory before we sent them back. And these "rebels" happened so infrequently that the government rarely took them seriously.

Within two years, we had more than doubled our population from 26 to about 60. We tried to keep the "abductions" to about once a month. We didn't need to draw more attention to us than was necessary.

But don't worry. We mean you no harm. We are simply offering you a chance to leave behind your meaningless human life and live like a god with the Flammies. Who knows? We might choose _you_ next.

We are the Flammie Clan and we are offering you a life-changing experience. Will you join us?

Over five years had passed since Seryn had laid her three eggs and the day our species had been waiting for was finally upon us. Seryn noticed that the eggs within her stomach were starting to shake and make noises. She quickly regurgitated them and we called an emergency gathering to watch the stunning event unfold. These were the first of many eggs laid that were about to hatch. I may have said before that female Flammies only laid one egg in their life and that it's up to the Flamelet inside when it was going to hatch. Well, now after five years of being dormant, the first True Flammie eggs in the clan were about to hatch.

Seryn and I curled up next to the eggs as the sky was crowed with Flammies that were trying to get front-row seats to this spectacular event. We watched as the squeaking inside the eggs intensified and they started shaking.

"I'm beside myself with excitement, Skyle," said Seryn, holding my paw with both of hers. "This is a historic event!"

"It will be fine, my love," I reassured her, curling my tail around hers. "They will be the first in a new generation of True Flammies."

After some time, the eggs stopped rattling and their squeaking stopped abruptly. Then with an effect like a small war zone, all three eggs erupted and the Flamelets inside tumbled out as various-colored eggshells went everywhere. Seryn and I ducked to avoid getting hit in the eyes, but when we looked next, we nearly went to tears.

Just like their egg colors, the three Flamelets were colored platinum-silver, polished-gold and a blinding white that caught every ray of the moon's glow. The silver one, a male, had blue-colored hair and matching talons and pads. His eyes were a golden-yellow that radiated curiosity and innocence for all the world to see. A strip of green lined the edges of his wings just like his mother's. The gold one, a female, had black hair that looked just like my fur and mane along with pink pads and silver talons. Red lined the tips of her feathers and she had emerald-green eyes.

As for the white one, I all but stopped breathing when I saw the resemblance to Sirius – the Flammie that I had met at the Gates of Heaven. It was male as well and it had a mane of shining-silver hair even more radiant than his sister's fur. His eyes were shining-silver and it had matching pads and talons. As for the rest of his body, it was a white that was unlike any mortal color. His wings were not lined with a second color, but that didn't matter. All I cared about was how beautiful he looked in the moonlight.

"What should we name them, love?" said Seryn, giving my cheek a lick.

I smiled and returned the favor. Pointing to the silver, gold and white ones in turn, I said just four words: "Vega... Tetra..." I paused at the white one and then sighed and said with pride, "Sirius White!"

"Beautiful!" said Seryn and the Flammies all around us cheered. The next generation of True Flammies had been born into the world and life for us had reached an all-time high. Even years down the road, I would forever remember the day that Fate chose Seryn and me to be together and we gave birth to three magnificent Flamelets.

Life was good... and it would only get grander as time went on.

END

Coming soon from shadowlugia249:

"Life with Lugia" – A Lugia story

"Flammie and Glory 3.5: Changing Fate" – How Mana became a Shadow Flammie


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